The tests and trials of life will prompt some kind of reaction from us…some kind of response…some kind of behavior. These challenges can be big or small. Long or short. Constant or intermittent.    A medical diagnosis. A financial blow. A spouse drifting away. You get the idea.  It’s life. And it plays out like this for all of us every day.    Even with that reality, we need...

Have you ever wondered why our closest relationships—with a spouse, family member, and close personal friends—are so complicated? So fragile? So vulnerable?    I have, and I suspect you have, too. And it gets me thinking, “How can that be? Where is God in all of this?    The answers to those questions come pretty quick. First, this isn’t heaven. We live on earth right now and it’s...

It is impossible to watch television or cruise the web today without being exposed to the “Fake News” trope that has exploded on the scene and is dominating societal discourse. It’s everywhere, as you know all too well.    It certainly prompts an interesting debate about the temperature of our current political climate, but more important to me—and I think other Christians, too—is how it...

Values are still important, right?    Of course they are.    But they seem to be losing their importance and power today. It’s like there is a temptation to think, “Yeah, I live by Christian values” without any visible evidence in the viewfinder of life.    That kind of thinking is very dangerous because our values, in large part, drive what we do today and determine...

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”...