How would you describe America’s Independence Day? Parades and picnics? Friends and family? Hot dogs and hamburgers? Ice cream and apple pie? Baseball and barbeques? Flags and fireworks?    You could not go wrong with any or all of those choices (except fireworks which in my opinion are overrated). 🙂    But for me there is a single word that undergirds, defines, animates, and symbolizes...

Try to remember the moment when you fully realized your total helplessness and KNEW that God had given you complete FREEDOM. When you knew his love was life-changing. When you knew that you were completely transformed.  This was the day your spiritual emptiness was vanquished by God’s greatness and unconditional love for YOU personally. It was a day when you were freed from your sin bondage...

I was holding onto so many of the wrong things that it was impossible for God to use me in service for him and his Kingdom. It was early in my faith walk and while I did believe, I did not TRULY BELIEVE that God is the only source of our power. Put simply, I could not make an Anything & Everything commitment to God. You know, putting the Lord of Heaven and earth AHEAD of anything and everything. I...

It’s finally over and I actually survived! Now I can relax. It was a mindset I had that ruled the day early in my faith walk when my primary focus during a trial was anticipating when it would be over. It was efficient and effective. But it was wrong.    Yes, that approach was clearly wrong for a Christian trying to grow spiritually through life’s ups and downs. Actually, it is an attitude...

It doesn’t take long for children to start wanting something and eventually demanding everything. All of us have seen it play out when kids scream THAT’S MINE! This me-centered perspective is particularly evident today in the face of 21stCentury relativism, where everything is okay if “no one gets hurt.” It’s a sad farce.    Proof that adults are no different than kids in this regard can...

My friend was startled when a notice crawled across her screen with a banner headline screaming NSF! The first thing that crossed HER mind was “another non-sufficient funds (NSF) notice from my bank.”    The first thing that crossed MY mind when I heard his story was how those three letters—NSF—apply to a Christian’s faith walk.    How Christians can get NSF notices from God–NON-SUFFICIENT...

Some of you are at the CROSSROADS of life RIGHT NOW. For others, it is looming just ahead. For all of us, we will hit that junction at some point and then face it again and again. In fact, we find ourselves standing at the CROSSROADS of life more now than ever before. What used to happen every few years now happens every few months when we hit the CROSSROADS of faith, family, career, relationships,...

God does not look at us through the lens of our past. He sees us through the certainty and knowledge of a future designed by him. God cares more about our tomorrows than our yesterdays. It is a good thing when Christians set goals to “be better.” Better at reading God’s Word and praying. Better at fellowship with other believers. And better at battling those things that would have us do or say the...

We all worry about what people think of us. When we are young children…when we are middle-age adults…and when we are aging seniors. We covet affirmation through our entire life. We care about “what others think.” The problem is how whatever people think about us will ALWAYS fall short of the IDEAL SCRIPT we write in our mind.    Before you lock this away as a one-dimensional point, it’s...

Mercy. Early in my faith walk I was ignorant about the imperative to insert my motives–the soul’s compass–into the daily conversation I was having with God. Into my thoughts. Into my attitude. Into my behavior. mo·tive: A reason for doing something, especially one that is hidden or not obvious.    This notion of motives zoomed to the surface of my thoughts yesterday while I was...