It doesn’t really matter what business you call these days; you are likely to engage with some form of a “phone answering” system. We all hate them, and if you are like me, you may occasionally resort to screaming at the phone, “customer service!”...

If you had interviewed me when I was a High School senior and asked who the influencers were in my life, I would probably have answered, “my English teacher Mr. Martin (he was so smart, well read and cute too!), Benjamin Franklin (been an interest...

A while back, the clue on Jeopardy was “Jezebel’s husband.” None of the three contestants knew that the answer was King Ahab. About that same time, I was doing a crossword puzzle, and the clue was Samuel’s teacher. I happened to know that Eli was...

One of my favorite children’s books is entitled, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” The hero of the book is having a very tough day, and his coping mechanism is his plan to run away to Australia. Alexander’s problems...

This week a friend reminded me about a very cool verse in Psalm 78. It is verse 72 which says, “And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.”  The author, Asaph (a leader and chief musician in Israel)...

Each believer is expected to walk (live) in such a way that their behavior and attitudes match their calling. And to help us do that, the Spirit has endowed each of us with at least one spiritual gift, all kinds of natural gifts, plenty of...

Being a lover of maps, it is not surprising that I own and frequently use a compass. I have a cute little one that I keep in my car. It is fun to figure out the direction of a destination. Especially when everyone in the car is guessing! Kids have...

Just like everyone else, occasionally my self-esteem takes a hit (or two!). This past week just happened to be one of those moments. My situation wasn’t quite as bad as not being picked for the kickball game at lunch, but almost. Truthfully, it...

Skipping through the channels last week, I stumbled on an episode of Dr. Phil dealing with an incredible 16-year-old. She was being raised by a single mother who had tons of money. The young girl had been receiving a couple thousand dollars a month...

I am disappointed. My March Madness brackets (college basketball tournament) did not allow me to win “the pick ‘em” tournaments that I entered! Truth is, I have been disappointed before. I whined when my high school volleyball team didn’t win the...

Too often in our culture, things are portrayed as opposing extremes. Everything is either black or white. And when it comes to a Biblical discussion of citizenship, we are often led to believe that we are either all in for country or all in for...

Several years ago, Chuck Swindoll wrote about Bertha Adams, a 71-year-old who died alone in West Palm Beach, Florida. The coroner’s report cited the cause of death to be malnutrition. At the end, she weighed only 50 pounds. When the authorities...