That’s exactly what I used to say!    Thank God that changed the day I took the Spiritual Maturity Class 201 at Saddleback Church and learned what God had to say about memorizing Scripture. Twenty years down the road I can see why it is so important.    If we want Christ-likeness to be expressed on the outside, we need Christ on the inside.    “A good man brings good...

Are you kidding me? How in the world can God allow heinous crimes? Or devastating hurricanes? Or war-time extermination camps? How, indeed. But it’s true. God does allow evil and suffering and pain. It is a reality for Christ followers and begs two huge questions: WHY does God allow pain and suffering? WHAT does God want us to do with pain and suffering? WHY DOES GOD ALLOW PAIN AND SUFFERING?    God...

I was consumed earlier in my life by a Negativity Force that had taken up residence in my psyche and extinguished most of my optimism fire and zest for life. I would lay awake at night as angst-filled thoughts bounced off the walls of my restive mind and siphoned off much of my hope.    Over time, the negativity force produced uninterrupted and unrelenting pressure that even made smiling...

“About all we can do now is pray and hope for the best.”    We don’t just wake up one day when life is “going good” and say, “All I can do now is pray.” Nope. We say those words when pain envelopes our life’s movie set and it fades to black. Of course God wants us to pray when we are consumed by that darkness. But he does not want us to wait for that!    God wants us to connect...

Chances are you are dealing with a setback of some sort right now. Perhaps it’s trouble at work, the death of a loved one, relational strife, or financial difficulty…just to name a few of myriad possibilities. While you cannot undo what’s already occurred, you can choose how–and with whom–you will move forward through and beyond the testing.    It is my prayer that you...

I spent nearly a quarter century living with constant angst over trying to arrive at some point in the future and not ever thinking about the journey along the way. It was always about the destination. Always about the goal. Always about the future. (Of course the mortgage metaphor is just to make the point. Even though in my case it was literally true!)    Enjoying the “journey of life”...

I have no time!    Sound familiar? It should because all of us have our time hijacked. It’s a “Time Trap” that rises each day with the sun.  It’s a given. And it’s dangerous when you consider that it may determine whether or not we spend time with God each day.    This is not about business or work time management. It’s about making time for the Lord of heaven and earth.    “If...

It’s true. And it was scary.    It happened during my run as a Corporate CEO in the marketplace when I was swept away by hopelessness. I had achieved and acquired “everything,” but was spiritually bankrupt. Even though I had been a Christian for over 20 years, I had not fully committed to God in full surrender.    It was the perfect storm for despair–no joy…constant pain…unrelenting...

I have often wondered what it would be like to live at the equator. Not the earth’s equator which divides the planet into the northern and southern hemispheres–“God’s Equator.”    This interest in the equator spilled into my quiet time early each morning as a new day dawned on a mission trip to Brazil working with Carlito and Leila Paes’ great church. And it continued on the long trip...

It’s a question for the ages, right? But for Christ followers, it is much more than an existential exploration. It is the heart and soul of our walk. It’s our foundation. And it’s our North Star.    We know our identity is in Christ, but the question is the depth of that belief and how we live it out.    I address that question by trying to reduce the gap between what I know to...