Each day has a pop quiz, and some seasons are like final exams. Brutal, sudden pitfalls of stress, sickness, or sadness. What is the purpose of the test? James 1:3-4 says, “For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let...
In 1965 Howard Rutledge parachuted into North Vietnam and spent the next several years in a prison in Hanoi, locked in a filthy cell, breathing stale, rotten air, trying to keep his sanity. Few of us will ever face the conditions of a POW camp....
Dad, would you intentionally break the arm of your child? Of course not! Such an action violates every fiber of your moral being. Yet if you engage in sexual activity outside your marriage, you’ll bring more pain into the life of your child than a broken...
Don’t make matters worse by doing something you’ll regret. Years ago, a friend gave me this counsel: “Make a list of all the lives you would impact through your sexual immorality.” I did. Every so often I re-read it: Denalyn. My three daughters. My son-in-law. My yet-to-be-born...
Depression can buckle the knees of the best of us, and a pastor’s wife is no exception. Years ago my wife Denalyn battled depression. Every day was gray. Her life was loud and busy—two kids in elementary school, a third in kindergarten, and a husband who...
Whatever it is that’s troubling you, you’ll get through this. Cancel your escape to the Himalayas. Forget the deserted island. This is no time to be a hermit. Pray. Lean on God’s people. Be a barnacle on the boat of God’s church. Matthew 18:20 says, “For where...
God surrounds us like the Pacific surrounds an ocean floor pebble. He is everywhere: above, below, on all sides. We choose our response—rock or sponge? Resist or receive? Everything within you says Harden your heart. Run from God, resist God, blame God. But be careful –...
You will never go where God is not. Envision the next few hours—where will you be? In a school? God indwells the classroom. On the highway? His presence lingers among the traffic. In the operating room, the executive boardroom, the in-laws’ living room? God will be...
The Bible says “vengeance is God’s; He will repay” (Romans 12:19). What a great reminder. Forgiveness doesn’t diminish justice, it just entrusts it to God. We tend to give too much or too little, but the God of justice has the precise prescription. God can discipline...
We pass much of life at mid-altitude. Most of life is Monday-ish obligations of carpools, expense reports, and recipes. Occasionally we summit a peak: our wedding, a promotion, the birth of a child. But when the housing market crashes or a test report comes back negative,...