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The phrase, “the First-Century Church,” is often used to describe the miracles we read about and the power of the Holy Spirit. And we find that there is an unfortunate split in the church as at one extreme, you find those that don’t believe the Spirit is active today and

You may remember that originally, God established the nation of Israel. But, after Solomon began to turn from God and sin, then his son continued, the northern ten tribes rebelled and made Jeroboam the king over Israel while Rehoboam, Solomon’s son was king over the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and

As my coffee is heating in the microwave, I stand at the kitchen sink and cut open an avocado for breakfast. I love standing here. The sky is just beginning to lighten behind the Peacock Mountains and I can see off in the distance the headlights of semis and a

Discovering Your Inherent Value Do you know your inherent value? Do you? Do you know where your inherent value comes from? In Genesis 1, we see the creation story. God made everything in an order that made sense and we’re told that He did it day by day over six

The Propaganda Challenge We’re in a major election year. I have to be careful about my focus so that I don’t dread it and get frustrated by it. For me, the first thing I hate is the propaganda. Both sides use it. You can expect it to be there anytime

Welcoming the New Year: A Time for Second Chances New beginnings, second chances, mulligans…. That’s what we envision each new year granting us. It’s an opportunity for things to go better for us. Or, probably more often, it’s an opportunity for us to do something better. Creating a new good

Why I didn’t write about Advent, I don’t know. There is so much significance to it. It is a time of looking forward to both the resurrection and birth of Christ. Because of this, it is a perfect time to be aware of our need for Christ. He wasn’t sent

The Middle East Conflict: Israel’s Claim and the Al-Aqsa Mosque As war goes on in the Middle East, Israel’s claim to the land is a point of discussion for many. And yet, as they claim the land, the Al-Aqsa Mosque is built where the Temple belongs. Why does this matter?

The Timeless Themes of the Bible I love the continuity of the Bible. There are so many themes that run through it across several thousand years. Of course, the primary themes all deal with His love for us. Once we can accept the concept that He does indeed love us

Once again, I have enjoyed the honor of receiving an advance copy of a Bible as a member of the Bible Gateway Blogger Grid. They requested only that I write an honest review of the Bible after receiving it. And once again, I have only good things to say about

The Paint Project I missed posting and sending out my newsletter last week as I recruited family members to put a very much needed coat of paint on my house. It took the better part of the week and left me exhausted on a daily basis. To be honest, I’m

As a member of the Bible Gateway Blogger Grid, I received an advance review copy of the Evangelical Study Bible with the request that I give it an honest review. Although the New King James Version is not my favorite translation, there is so much to this Bible that I

The Power of Gathering as Christians I received an email of a blog post last week. It was an impressively well-written piece about the four ways that we as Christians need to gather and how each benefits us individually and corporately. The last was prayer. The author talked about praying

Finding Hope in the Midst of Struggles In the mid-1990s, my wife and I were struggling. I would go in the bathroom and crank the song “No Doubt” by Petra over and over with the shower running so my wife didn’t hear me in there sobbing. It says, “This test

How Faith and Mental Health Intersect How do our faith and mental health relate? This is a critical question. As a counselor, I see two base groups that consistently fight the idea of counseling more than any other. These are men and Christians. Our culture tells men that they are

1. Falling into a Career vs. finding meaning in work and retirement Twenty-five years ago, I fell into a career. I had no idea at the time that I would find a niche and become a sought-after expert in a certain aspect of my field. After all, I just went

Understanding Christianese Cliches I often talk about what I call ‘Christianese.’ These are Christian colloquialisms. They originated with deep meaning but have become so overused that they have become cliches. We hear them, and probably say them, but may not even truly understand them. Even if we do indeed understand

Introduction: Exciting Upcoming Projects I’m excited to share with you my upcoming Christian Books and Marriage Coaching Program. I have allowed myself to get a little overwhelmed and busy, but it’s all good stuff (at least I think so!). 1. Book Relaunch: “How to be a Christian in Today’s World”

1. Ministry as Our Sole Calling Despite being in some sort of ministry for over thirty years, I worked full time to support my family until I suddenly became disabled in 2015. That freed up my wife and myself to dedicate ourselves to the sole focus of ministry. When I

Choosing Family Beyond Blood and Bonds  I once heard that true family is by choice not blood. Although I strongly believe in the importance of a strong nuclear family, I cannot deny the beauty of choosing family beyond blood and bonds either. Both my wife and I found ourselves in

Struggling to Find Genuine Support One of the things that I sadly hear from people is the frequent struggle to find the kind of Godly support and friendship that we all require. We don’t understand the concept of nurturing authentic supportive relationships. Importance of Discerning Friendships I think in many

Appreciating the Journey Together First, I want to thank you for sticking with me on this journey, and I hope that I am serving you. That is the whole point after all. In that vein, a couple more people have answered the brief survey here. If you haven’t yet, I

Approaching Bible Reading with Depth and Embracing Jesus’ Compassionate Ministry I don’t know how you read the Bible. When I’m working on a sermon, a book, or even a blog post, I might dig deep to make sure I understand any cultural or historical implications. But for my daily Bible

Introduction So many individuals in our world grapple with feelings of inadequacy and failure. Whether it’s due to unmet expectations or lacking approval, these emotions can be deeply ingrained. In this blog post, I want to share some wisdom I’ve gained through counseling and my book, “How to be a

Introduction Why should God’s name and reputation matter to us? Last week I talked about the fact that we witness all the time no matter what. In other words, people watch our behavior all the time. Consequently, they often make decisions about not just Christians, but Christ based on our

Living as Exiles: Ezekiel’s Gloom-Filled Prophetic Call to the Israelites in Babylon “I’ve been reading Ezekiel in my daily devotions lately. It doesn’t start out exactly cheery. Ezekiel and many other Israelites are living as exiles in Babylon. Then God told Ezekiel he was going to be His prophet. For

Living the Fortunes of Misadventure: Embracing Love and Building a Lasting Relationship Introduction: In the face of numerous challenges and countless surgeries, my wife’s and my love story has unfolded in unexpected ways. Through misadventures, we have learned the true essence of love and chosen to build a strong and

When You Can’t Do In life, we often define ourselves by what we can do. Our abilities, accomplishments, and productivity become intertwined with our identity. But what happens when circumstances change, and we find ourselves unable to do what we’re accustomed to? It’s a challenging transition that many of us

Introduction: Do you find yourself trapped in a cycle of self-blame and regret, haunted by past mistakes? It’s time to break free and embrace the forgiveness and abundant life that Christ offers. In this blog post, we will explore the assurance of forgiveness, the significance of Christ’s sacrifice, and the

Credit: http://catalogue.wellcomelibrary.org/record=b1091235   When God Doesn’t Heal: Reflecting on Miracles and Faith Introduction As told in my upcoming book “Blessed Brokenness: Seeing God’s Glory in the Ashes of Life,” I share a powerful story of literally being hands-on during a miracle. However, there are also times when God doesn’t heal,

Introduction: As my wife was watching her favorite “clean crime show,” I was sitting next to her, working on my laptop. Admittedly, I too enjoy the show and should have found someplace else to work. Nevertheless, I remained in the room, and a familiar conflict theme brought memories of our

Introduction: Life is a wild journey, full of twists and turns we never see coming. How can we live embracing life’s moments, living with purpose and gratitude? I recently heard Tim McGraw’s song “Live Like You Were Dying,” and it got me thinking about what it truly means to live with

I have an author colleague who believes in deeds being the key to salvation. He points to the story of the Sheep and the Goats in  Matthew 25:31-46 . Unfortunately, this leaves out so much of the rest of scripture and we have occasional polite discussions about this. The real-life problem

One thing that I’ve learned specifically in counseling is that everyone needs to feel heard. Everyone needs to know that their concerns are legitimate  I am deeply honored that many of you trust me to help.  I will try to answer your questions and through my email newsletters introduce you

Anyone who gardens probably knows about zones. Zones for plants are primarily based on latitude. The zones then run primarily east to west. Plants are fairly picky about the climate where they grow. But altitude can affect the zone too.  Despite being in a fairly southern zone, we live in

When we look at the Israelites in the desert as they are wandering. It’s easy to look down on their level of trust. They see God provide, then a few verses later, they come across a new challenge and seem to have forgotten in just a moment or two how

You may know the story of Peter joining Jesus in walking on the water. If not you can find it in Matthew 14:22-33. (The following is also found in Matthew 14:13-22, just before the passage above.) Jesus had just gotten the news that his cousin and ‘predecessor,’ John had been

I joined Amy Connell on the Graced Health podcast, where she has grace-filled conversations about physical, mental, and spiritual health. Amy and I share a deep conversation about some aspects of our faith that are harder to grasp. Per Amy – We discuss: The Christian “elephant in the room” and what it

I’ll admit, this picture is a few years old, but the only real difference is that I have significantly more gray than I did here.  But this is my beautiful bride and me after a “walk” around the neighborhood in our power chairs after church. It was Father’s Day and

Something in me says that evangelism shouldn’t be a divisive topic. And yet, over my years in ministry and my wide background among different denominations, opinions can be so strong that it almost seems like something folks would come to blows over.  It’s not that the need for evangelism is

I’ve recently become acquainted with author and podcaster, Amy Connell. I don’t think that Amy would ever call herself a minister, but that’s who she is and what she does. She’s a nutritionist and personal trainer by trade but in reality she is a minister. I had the amazing opportunity

I was recently asked through the survey about the function of the Holy Spirit in the world today. Now, personally, this really excited me because the person that asked started out in a liturgical background just like I did and believes in the power of the Holy Spirit just like

I sent out a link to a survey a week or two ago and a few answered the four questions. I’m trying to find a way to address the concerns that came up in the survey through my blog posts. After all, I want to know that these posts mean

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Remember the song we learned as children, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand?” Well, it does have a basis in scripture. In Isaiah 41:10, we see God encouraging the Israelites by telling them that he will hold them up with His righteous right hand. Later,

He is Risen Indeed! I did not intend to send anything out over Easter weekend. But tonight, I can not not share with you. (I say tonight because I will schedule this for Easter morning.) My wife found another amazing series and I have to recommend it to you. It’s

  I’ve received some very compelling questions to the short survey I sent out. It was just four questions, but some of the answers have made me think, and others have broken my heart. If you haven’t taken the survey, you take it here. Your answers will help me shape

I woke this morning 2 hours before I needed to be up to let my wife’s caregiver in. That’s been happening more and more lately. I don’t know why, but usually, I don’t mind it. It’s quiet in the house. As I sat up I heard the sound of rain

This was a number of years ago in a moment of silliness. But today, this woman has tolerated me for 32 years and is grateful, can you believe it? Especially when I post pictures like this? I certainly haven’t deserved 32 years with her. For far too many of them,

This picture is from a memory notification to my phone. First, it was Facebook reminding me of every post or conversation that its algorithms thought might be significant. Then it was One Drive (which I don’t remember telling to back up my photos, but it did.)  Now, it reminds me

I love the 1974 movie “Fiddler on the Roof.” Between 1894 and 1914 Sholem Aleichem wrote a series of stories about life in the Settlement of Pale. This was an area in Imperial Russia where the Jews were allowed to live. As a rule, they were strictly forbidden from living

The last few years have brought a number of challenges to our family. OneDrive sends me memories each day and before I figured out how to retrieve it this morning, I had deleted the notification. So that’s not the picture that’s heading this blog post. But then, this is prettier

One of the areas that required the most personal development when I became disabled was riding/touring. For the last several years before I got sick, I had been participating in a competitive long distance riding event. Yes, I like to compete and I would push myself to be able to

I worked in industry for my previous career. It was only 17 years long between a late start and early retirement due to disability. But in that time, I was fortunate enough to have fallen into a niche that really didn’t exist when I started but has become a whole

  Having four cats in this household means that there are pretty much constant hijinks and entertainment. Boo, the black furball pictured above is the most curious and intent of them all. Once she has her mind set on something it is very difficult to distract her. The other night