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...

YES, this IS another blog on “Christmas Greed.” But please do NOT give up on it because of the subject’s familiarity to you. Why? Because ALL BELIEVERS need to continually remind themselves of this nasty beast called GREED–especially at Christmas when the world elevates materialism to center stage and we are at great risk of being attacked.    But Christmas is not the only reason GREED...

Jesus is the LIGHT OF THE WORLD. Yes, even now in the middle of a pandemic’s ferocious fury. There’s no question about that fact. But there is a question—Are YOU with him, shining that same light?    We were formerly bound to the darkness, but Jesus rescued us to his light–the LIGHT OF THE WORLD. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have...

SCORCHED-EARTH is a military strategy deployed with ruthless tactics by one side to destroy anything that might be useful to its opponent and, in the process, completely kill them off at any cost. Using a SCORCHED EARTH strategy produces destructive carnage of course, but its most powerful force is PSYCHOLOGICAL in how it destroys the HEART and WILL of everyone it hits.    SCORCHED EARTH...

The frightening surge of COVID-19 cases raging across the planet has taken away our collective breath. We are careening toward a COVID CHRISTMAS that will look like nothing anyone has seen. All of us better strap in for what looks like a bumpy trip to the vaccinated goal line.    That is today’s very-real reality—and challenge—for EVERYBODY. But it begs this very specific question for CHRISTIANS:    Where...

Looking through thousands of comments from our global online tribe this past year has given me deep insight into the heartbeat of what it means to be a Christian on planet earth in 2020. I’m not a cardiologist, but I can clearly see that it’s a confused heart beating faster and faster. A frightened heart skipping more and more beats. A fragile heart looking for a way to slow down like a NASCAR driver...

This just in from our global online tribe: “I cannot figure out how to follow Jesus and it’s really frustrating. Please help me.”    I love this question for two reasons: It’s difficult to answer; and 2) Getting it answered is fundamental to a believer’s faith walk. So let’s tackle it head on.    All believers—at one time or another and to some degree or another—search for an IDEALIZED...

FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS—we’re in the home stretch toward Christmas 2020! That means our spending marathon has us CLICKING PAY every day on our way to spending ONE HALF TRILLION DOLLARS by months end. Along the way all of us will be subjected to a NOISE WAR that will threaten to CANNIBALIZE our holiday mindshare and heart-share during December. What’s at risk? The disappearance of Jesus from the celebration...