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...

There have been thousands of blogs written on a Christian’s AVAILABILITY over their ABILITY. Most believers have heard this subject’s core message that “God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.” AND IT’S TRUE!    Not super stars. Not super saints. Not super theologians. God uses regular, ordinary people who can move mountains when they are propelled by the Holy Spirit. Which...

Four life-changing words of faith–GOD IS IN CONTROL—are being spoken more now than I can ever recall. No doubt fueled by a crippling pandemic; I see evidence of it in the thousands of comments from our global online tribe. This is a very good thing for Christianity and indeed the world.    But that positive thought was interrupted yesterday by a dear friend in middle America who asked...

Yesterday I wrote that asking God “WHAT’S NEXT” is important, but so is doing WHAT’S NEXT. That message prompted this question from an American member of our global online tribe: How do you ask God WHAT’S NEXT while continuing to move forward?    Asking God WHAT’S NEXT–while moving forward into UNCERTAINTY—comes down to making sure we are available and “OPEN TO” what GOD SAYS.    Many...

Want to know one of the most common things MISSING in the faith walk of Christians around the world? Here it is:    Quickly processing life’s events with God and then asking “WHAT’S NEXT?”    I learned that through thousands of comments from our global online tribe. What I have NOT seen much evidence of is one of the most common aphorisms in Christianity: “Let Go, Let God.”    Of...

Last week I was walking to my car in an underground parking garage when a man suddenly appeared out of the shadows and sent fright through every part of me. He approached quickly and said: “Do you have any money for me!?” In a split-second I figured my best reaction would be to assertively MOVE TOWARD HIM and SHOUT my recommendation that he flee. It worked. He turned around on a dime and scurried...

Being THANKFUL in all things—including COVID-19—is being tested this year more than any other time in memory. But God’s timeless call to pray with thankfulness–no matter what our circumstances may be–endures through everything:    “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18    Always thanking God–including...

It was a pleasant enough drive. I had just hopped onto life’s expressway after being greeted by a charcoal sky that couldn’t seem to find its blue. My hopes for joy were quickly interrupted by a fast-moving blur in the rear-view mirror. I was certain the car snaking toward me was black. And then the mirror was lit up by the car’s strobing lights and my cabin invaded by its pulsating siren. I was being...

This just in from our global online tribe: The night I was saved was the most INCREDIBLE moment of my life. I have never felt anything like it but have not felt that feeling since that night. What’s wrong?    The questioner is not alone here. It is common for a new Christian’s SALVATION MOMENT—at a retreat, revival, or any high-energy and emotional event—to “evaporate” when “regular life”...

Yesterday I wrote about PANIC ROOMS that people hide in to get away from what they perceive as danger. Today I am going in the opposite direction. I want to address ESCAPE ROOMS that people try to get out of.    Most of us have heard of the ESCAPE ROOM craze that has been trotting across the globe for the past 10 or 15 years. The set-up is simple. A group of people is locked in a room. The...