At some point during the administration of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, he decided to anoint himself as dictator. And he went a step further and gave himself a new title. He called himself, “The Awesome.” Now with a bit of flippancy, I can see where all...

I love Godly illustrations out of the world of sports. A great one recently happened during a men’s basketball game between the University of Iowa and Northwestern University. With just a couple of minutes remaining in the hard fought game, the...

Last weekend, the current Marvel action hero movie grossed over $400 million in just the first few days of its release. It struck me that our culture is extremely hungry for heroes to admire and emulate. This week, I would like to offer up three...

In the last few months or so, I have been “bumping into” a lot of death and dying issues.  I lost a good friend to a sudden heart attack. Been spending quite a bit of time with a friend who is in a “stage 4” battle with cancer. Encouraged a friend...

I love sports. I love the Super Bowl. I especially loved hearing the comments from the winning team last week. First up was the coach who declared that all the credit for their success went to his Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Then the current...

Jesus is the ideal example of a person committed to prayer. He modeled for us how to go to our secret place and speak with our heavenly father.  Jesus showed us how to worship first and then make requests. He taught us that it is a personal thing....

For 35 years it has been my privilege to walk beside south county families as they encounter all the aspects of normal living. On the positive side, I have seen babies born, I have attended tons of graduation parties, I love going to the weddings...

A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call that a dear friend of mine had passed away quite suddenly of a heart attack. Her name was Pat, but I always called her “PD” (her initials). We met in church back in the early 70’s. I had just come to a...

In 1989, Stephen Covey wrote his acclaimed book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. That book sold over 20 million copies and has influenced untold thousands of executives all around the world (including me)....

Repurpose. Reconsider. Reevaluate. Regenerate. At the start of a new year, there are so many “re” words and concepts to consider. But one of them in particular has been on my mind all week: Redeem. The dictionary definition says it means to buy or...

I have a friend who rather regularly bemoans the fact that her family’s household income isn’t as great as that of others in our area. I did a little checking and it does seem that the real median income in 2016 for a household in the US was a bit...

Last spring, I had the great privilege of leading a group to Israel. We visited many of the traditional sites that I had seen before. But because the political situation was very calm, we had the special treat of visiting Bethlehem in the West...