As this yawning Thursday scurries to catch up from losing a day to remember our veterans, Christians are waking up LONELY. In fact, the percentage of people who report being LONELY continues its inexorable march toward 50%. Fueled by COVID-19, new research says 44% of respondents claim to be LONELY “more than occasionally.” There is a LONELINESS PANDEMIC sweeping through the land like a wind-swept...

I thought a lot yesterday about suffering and sacrifice. But that came late in the day when the screen of my mind’s cinema inched toward its fade to black. Earlier in the day, thoughts of it being “just another” Memorial Day were moving through my mind like Georgia fireflies dancing above a summer fire on Lake Allatoona. Sadly, the most memorable part of yesterday’s Memorial Day holiday for most people...

“Fake it ‘till you make it” (FIUYMI) is an English aphorism suggesting that if we “pretend” to feel or act a certain way, eventually the pretending will turn into reality. The term originated in 323 BC when Greek Philosopher Aristotle argued: “Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a certain way.” The term was lit up by pop culture in the 1970s and is alive and kicking...

“I want it now!” (IWIN) thinking has a vise-like hold on all of us. We know what we want, and we want it NOW. The best and most recent example of IWIN is our desperate pleas to shoo the pandemic out of town. We want the COVID-19 restrictions lifted NOW!    IWIN thinking has moved from a rare occurrence to a daily expectation. Once we have a taste of fast, we don’t want any part of slow.    When...

We are living right now in a moment IDENTICAL to what the prophet Isaiah predicted. IDENTICAL to what John the Baptist experienced. And IDENTICAL to what countless other Christians have stared down for millennia. For context, let’s step back in time.    As prophesied in Isaiah 40:3-5, God sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus. His mission was to tell people their lives could...

The world is quickly running out of patience like a kid runs out of nickels on his first run to the mini-mart. Lock down and shut down have become trigger words that slice a piece off everyone. “REOPENING” is now a surreal soundtrack crackling in the background while we search for a switch to flip our life back to “NORMAL.”    Believers and unbelievers alike are in the middle of this nasty...

Well before GPS cured our directional disease, captains of the sea used a SEXTON to “shoot the stars” at dawn and dusk to identify their navigational position. In almost every case, a course correction of some kind was needed.    Christians need to a sexton, too. But our sexton is God. And, yes, we need to check it twice-a-day—once in the morning and then again as the day fades to black.    Failure...

A mentor and dear friend of mine halfway across the country just told me a story he calls “THE HARDEST DAY OF MY LIFE.” His powerful words and images stirred my emotions profoundly as I looked outside the window of my life and saw COVID-19 tanks rolling through and over everything everywhere. His story got me thinking hard about PSALM 91 and how much it resonates in “modern” 21st Century life, especially...

An insidious, white-noise HUM is racing across the globe and penetrating the souls of its inhabitants. Creating a mysterious torture chamber. Mounting an unrecognizable assault. Casting a dark force that blocks out all but a glint of God’s light. Here’s what Mr. Webster says about HUM: An unwanted, low-frequency, and continuous droning and vibrating sound.    The 21st Century HUM runs 24/7...

This just in from our global online tribe: I put in a lot of effort to grow spiritually but my faith is stagnant, especially during the COVID-19. Doesn’t God see my effort? This is a powerful question that produces a scary answer.    Effort can be an imposter; even a fraud; always a chameleon; sometimes a saboteur.    Effort does not earn points.    Yes, everything falls...