The hurricane that just slammed the Florida panhandle produced devastation, destruction, and death. The heartbreaking images that crawled across our screens were hard to watch but impossible to ignore. But cut into that movie were stories of people ducking into storm shelters to ride out the assault. As I watched this reel click forward frame-by-frame, I quickly thought of the figurative bunkers Christians...

We spend our day looking at windows and drop downs. We post fragments and facades that form a customized but false narrative. We keep our Bible close, but closed. We create this fractured existence by trying to COMPARTMENTALIZE everything. In the process we remove God from his rightful place as our central HUB and spiritual spine.    This dangerous dance has consequences. We lose our intimate...

We love old stuff! Movies and music. Cars and clothes. Books and biographies. Old things are comfortable and safe. The NEW parts of life—from tangible, material things to attitudes and behaviors—are unpredictable and uncertain. Risky and unsettling. Old things and established ways of looking at life—both secular and spiritual—produce feelings of comfort and safety. We then pass them through our reflective...

There are all kinds of tests in life. Blood tests. Driving tests. Pregnancy tests. Hearing tests. Drug Tests. And countless other tests, but you get the idea. Lots of tests.  Heck, life is a test. But the most important test of all is our FAITH TEST!    Early in my faith walk I failed every single one of them. But God would later become my tutor and teach me that as believers we must...

What’s your favorite pairing?  Peanut Butter & Jelly? Hamburgers & Fries? Scooby Doo & Shaggy? Movies & Popcorn? There are many more choices, of course, but missing from the short list above is one of the most powerful archetypes in history–the PAIRING of evil with darkness and goodness with light.    Darkness is a trap and light is a safety chute to life as God...

Early in my faith walk I had no idea there was a Battle Royale raging inside me to control my thoughts and behavior. But later I learned it was true! And it’s a war that inflicts much pain on the loser. This fight begins every day when we wake up and immediately start generating our first thoughts that will eventually total over 50,000 when the day fades to black. That’s a lot of thinking going on...

A close friend and business partner sent me a note at 3am this morning while driving on an East Coast highway. He had a heavy heart full of regret over actions he had taken the previous day that did not honor God. I prayed for this great man and then powered up my laptop and wrote this message for him…and me…and you, too. Let’s start with what God says about regret through the Apostle Paul in Corinth…    “For...

Every soul on planet earth is going to sit in the JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST and account for what they have done in their life—the good…the bad…and the ugly. Yes, even the Beatles and Kardashians. Everyone.    We may be able to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, but there is no higher court in heaven than the judgment seat of Christ. And it is Jesus, himself judged and nailed to the cross,...

We don’t just look to avocados and other comfort foods for comfort. We’re constantly hunting for comfort zones and comfort stations and the creature comforts of life. And we try very hard to avoid things that are “too close for comfort.”    Of course comfort is something that we all need in this life on planet earth! And there’s nothing wrong with avocados and comfort stations. The question...

Every day our society careens further into the tumultuous 21st Century, we increasingly believe that WE are fully capable of navigating through the minefields of life ON OUR OWN. The result?    It becomes increasingly more difficult to be content with our life. In fact, it’s hard work being content living in a world that bombards us with every enticement imaginable to want...