YES…this is another blog for Christians on WORRYING and its negative consequences. NO…it should not be dismissed just because we “know the dangers for Christians who worry.” Of course we know God tells us in no uncertain terms not to WORRY (Philippians 4:6). And we know how quickly WORRYING can cut in front of us as we stand in the line of life.    But here’s my question for you today:...

This arduous and painful year we will forever associate with its ominous epitaph–COVID PANDEMIC 2020–is about to introduce 2021 and then crawl off the stage. But before it leaves town, all of us are considering: 1) The impacts and consequences of 2020; and 2) The new “way-of-life” for 2021 that it leaves in its wake.    That’s what we’ve been doing together all month—December’s...

I’m watching 2020 begin its final march into the sunset with a burning desire to make 2021 more significant than the year it nudges off the horizon. More significant in understanding my life purpose. And more significant in serving others who need God’s love and hope.    How about YOU?    Are YOU going to make 2021 more SIGNIFICANT than 2020? If you’re in…let’s keep going.    Making...

Earlier this month I introduced the need to build a CHANGE RAMP to the new year and challenged you to give it a try for 2021. I argued that doing this work in December forces us to work with God on a vision for the new year that can easily be turned into an action plan when January arrives.    We then took the first step of identifying how living in 2020’s QUARANTINE CULTURE impacted our...

We all have our favorite Christmas TRADITIONS–the people, meals, songs, and lights…and especially the VIBE that reverberates around them. AND THAT’S FANTASTIC! It creates a wondrous backdrop and fertile environment to celebrate the birth of Christ. But as you can already feel by now, a CAUTION is coming.    Before addressing that caution, let’s establish the primary goals of every...

To be used as fuel, CRUDE OIL must be refined through four stages—Separation; Distillation; Testing; and Distribution. Similarly, Christians must approach their faith walk in the same way. That’s why every December I make studying these similarities part of my annual process of building a CHANGE RAMP to the new year. It starts with reviewing the four refining stages of CRUDE OIL:    SEPARATE...

A key part of building my CHANGE RAMP to the new year every December is checking my INTERRUPTIBILITY (I think that’s a word). I do that because God wants ALL BELIEVERS to periodically consider if they are INTERRUPTIBLE. Here are the three questions I ask myself to get that done:    ONE: Is this GOD interrupting me? It is common for Christians (me included, of course) to think whatever they...

I love December! It has my birthday and my wife’s birthday—born 3 hours apart in the same year, btw. It has our wedding anniversary. And, of course, most important of all, it has CHRISTMAS. But there’s another part of my December—a life-transforming part–that I want to share with you here. My hope is that you make it part of YOUR DECEMBER, too.      A few blogs back I encouraged...

This just in from our global online tribe: “There are so many things to do in the Christmas season that I am wound up like the toy I just bought my son. HOW CAN I FIND THE COMFORT IN CHRISTMAS?”    Let’s start with the FOUNDATION of Christmas before we get to COMFORT.    Christmas is about the birth of Christ. The arrival of the prophesied Messiah. The Lord in human flesh. But...

Thousands of comments from our global online tribe have convinced me that more and more Christians are “DEFAULTING TO NEGATIVITY” in their lives, especially in December on the ramp to Christmas.    de·​fault | a selection made automatically due to lack or perceived lack of a viable alternative.    ALL of us at one time or another default to negativity and view our LOWS at...