Early response in an emergency is important. The earlier the response the better. That’s why we venerate our first responders and respect them so much.    I was thinking today about the application between faith and first responders and realized that God wants to be our very own first responder on call 24/7, 365 days a year…FOREVER.    All we have to do is call his private 911...

I’m convinced that encouragement is one of the most powerful blessings in God’s Kingdom. That’s why I want to share with you today a few thoughts of encouragement that came to me this morning during my quiet time with the Lord. My prayer is that they encourage you and help brighten your day so you can, in turn, lift someone else.    I’M HURTING    When our pain is the greatest,...

I’ll never forget the first time I saw that “crazy” guy in the end-zone at San Francisco 49er football games. I was not a Christian at the time and had no idea what John 3:16 meant. Since there was no Google, I was left wondering–week after week after week—what in the world that guy was all about.    I picked up bits and pieces over time that this guy’s gig was somehow related to Christianity...

I’ve always been uncomfortable around clowns. Ok, I’m afraid of clowns! I have no idea why this aversion exists in my life, but it is definitely there and often becomes a metaphor to tell a story. Like this one here today…    It starts with a plaintive and non-violent voice whispering in my ear, “You failed, Mark…again. You are not a real Christian…and you will never be…”    Have...

Everything Does NOT Happen For A Reason!    I cringe a bit when this line, or some form of it, percolates to the top of a conversation:    “Well, everything happens for a reason…I guess it was just meant to be.”    It’s not Biblical.    Pain and disease and death and loss are inevitable fixtures of life because this is earth and not heaven.    When...

In the early part of my career as a successful CEO, success came lightning fast and served as intoxicating fuel for me to seek ever more “highs.”  But none of that changed anything in my heart for God. It was nothing more than a temporary fix to my carburetor, which before long actually needed to be rebuilt. Like all intoxicants, the effects were temporary…the damage devastating.    “Better...

  “Oh no! I haven’t made this month’s payment on the mansion. Or the sports car. Or the boat. Get to work and make some more money. You can do it…you’ve done it many times before.”    Thus began another performance of spinning plates in my life as a succeed-at-all-costs CEO striving and stressing to “have it all.” I was operating like a circus performer’s frantic and frenetic effort...

Do you ever feel like that?    It’s a feeling that comes on days where the fruit we bear seems more rotten than beautiful. And it can go from bad to worse in an instant. In fact, if we don’t turn to God immediately, this wobble in our faith gait can quickly lead to a trip and eventually a fall.    Going to God quickly with this destructive thought is imperative. He doesn’t want...

This yellow chair metaphor has profoundly and positively impacted my life as a believer. I pray that it will do the same for you, too.    I learned about yellow chairs from my engineer father while growing up in the suburban idyll of San Francisco’s East Bay. He used the term any time a person was falling short of their goal or potential.    The story would always start with a...

Each one of you reading these words right now is worried about something.    We worry over the fear of losing a job, or of not having enough money to pay the bills, or of a looming health crisis. We worry about an addition to the family, a relationship dispute, or any of life’s myriad challenges. We are prone to worry about everything!    For some of you, the worry is mild…maybe...