“But I am poor and sorrowful: let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high.” – Psalm 69:29 The Psalmist shares a secret that all believers know.  He presents ...

There needs to be something that takes your breath away. In each life there must remain something outside of you that, when experienced, so profoundly affects you that you notice ...

Don’t check your bank account this morning to determine if you are blessed.  Don’t step on the scale or look in the mirror to determine your outlook for the next ...

A great danger for us is to spend time wondering what people think of us.  Let me declare how people think of us:  INACCURATELY. No matter whether they think more ...

Weary of your struggles or suffering?  You cannot wish it away or ignore it into oblivion.  When pain comes it can do a number on us in a short time.  When ...

My previous post began to unpack what Paul was describing when he peculiarly proclaimed that “we rejoice in sufferings”.  Recognizing that I needed to take some care in how I deal ...

There may not be any characteristic of the Christian life that is more attractive than genuine joy.  The bible never asks the followers of Christ to paint on a false smile, ...

If you read through the Christmas narratives in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, an interesting element seems to appear with a greater frequency than we might think.  It occurs ...

From the Puritan prayer book, Valley of Vision:   O CHRIST, All thy ways of mercy tend to and end in my delight. Thou didst weep, sorrow, suffer that I ...

Sick of struggle & suffering?  You cannot wish it away or ignore it into oblivion.  When pain comes it can do a number on us in a short time.  When ...

So what are you looking at when you squint at the little picture to the right?  You likely can't see the details in that little snapshot so I've placed a ...

Sweet relief is ours this morning with a precious promise from on high. In a heated and hostile world, where does the Christian find hope for his or her continuance? ...

As I take a look around me, the world I live in, the head I think with, the heart I feel with, the church I pastor and the people in ...

What's the current temperature in your pressure cooker?  It's ironic that we who live in a world of advanced technology which is supposed to breed unprecedented convenience, instead find ourselves ...

Standing backstage behind our church's platform, I looked at my beautiful Amy sitting in her wheelchair as she got ready to stand up out of it and walk with me ...

So I'm waking up my son yesterday morning for school and finding it as it usually is: a challenging endeavor.  The little fellow loves him some sleepy-time and prefers half-day ...

Yesterday was the marathon of marathons for me and I came home in the evening dog-tired.  Fixing a plate of fried chicken and potatoes I sat down after mumbling a ...

Several weeks ago I was speaking on the phone with the man who led me to Christ in the early 1990's.  Scott Johnson was preparing to lead some in his ...

Perhaps one of the most tragic things to occur in the life of a Christian would be for that individual to live a listless, unmotivated life.  I perceive that it ...

"...to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called ...