The globe is painted in the excruciating color of physical PAIN. We cannot miss it splashing and crashing across our TV every day, especially now as the war unleashes its rage and carnage in Ukraine. We see it in various forms on the internet. We see it on the faces of people everywhere as we take our stroll through life. And maybe we see it (and feel it) on and in our own body. I know I do, every...

This message starts by confronting the truth that we would rather not face REALITY. That’s why we are prone to customize our own version of REALITY and feed that back to ourselves through our daily SELF TALK. Our walk with Jesus can be derailed if we don’t interrupt this cycle of deception by REFRAMING our narrative.    I have been FRAMING thoughts for my entire adult life as a CEO, as a...

If you’re living on planet earth, you know about war. Pictures of the devastated landscape arrest your senses. Images of the conflict’s horror cling to the screen of your mind’s cinema. Feelings of unfathomable sadness squeeze your heart into an accelerated beat.    But this war in Ukraine is different, much different, at least for me.    There is a profound and lasting impact...

Watching a war on screens of all sizes is something the world has NEVER seen before and the images rolling out of Eastern Europe are truly horrific. I hate it…and I know you do, too. The atrocities in Ukraine are simply unfathomable and that’s why God has believers from every corner of the planet on their knees in prayer. I know that’s the case for me.    With WAR top of mind and resident...

When was the last time YOU were disappointed? Yesterday? Last month? Two years ago? No matter how you answered that question, we know that there will ALWAYS be an answer. It’s true. All Christians will have periodic waves of disappointment crash their shore on this side of the Heavenly divide. As I wrote the other day in my FUNKADELIC blog, one of those waves sprayed ME this week. Only by the grace...

TRANSPARENCY ALERT!    I was in a deep FUNK yesterday. All day. Disappointed and disillusioned. Pained and plaintive. Depleted and downcast. It wasn’t depression. It wasn’t a lack of being present. It was…well, a funk.    I’m not talking about the music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s and made famous later by the king of funk George...

Images from the planet’s other side show Russian tanks in a long and frightening queue thundering toward Ukraine’s capital. The cameras then cut to the city’s center where citizen soldiers, behind anguished and tortured expressions—prepare for battle.    That scene makes me wonder how many of those brave souls are pushing back on a pulsating urge to RUN AWAY. But then I realized that it...

I woke up today to another chilly February morning on America’s west coast with what seemed like an ODD QUESTION crashing the day’s opening thoughts: Is all of this REAL? My faith. My hope. My life?    I quickly realized that this question had nothing to do with me BEING genuine or living with spiritual authenticity. That’s a message for another day. I could see that my thoughts this morning...

A change of plans met me very early on this chilly February morning while I was towing a cup of Joe from the kitchen to my laptop. I intended to write a very specific message that has been rattling around in my head for weeks. But that plan was interrupted by a recent and haunting memory of Christians not listening to one another. There was no argument. In fact, nobody said a word about the lack of...

A QUICK CHALLENGE FOR YOU TODAY    Our culture tells us to endure the constant pressure of life’s uncertainty and to keep trying hard so we can eventually prevail. It’s nonsense and simply not true. Get ready, you’re about to test your uncertainty.    God says uncertainty is unacceptable, yet we still fall prey to its powerful force and a natural, human reaction to our surroundings...