Analogies are helpful and here is a good one from a godly leader who now lives with Jesus. Jerry Bridges was a long time staff member with the Navigators, a discipleship ministry that started in the military but has expanded in to worldwide discipling movement. Wise words from Jerry Bridges and his classic book The … More The Relationship Between Farming and Holiness
A friend I met in Israel, lives in the Hollywood Hills and writes books for living. (Great job if you have the talent for it and Tom Bissell has it.). Anyway, in one of his books, Chasing the Sea: Lost Among the Ghosts of Empire in Central Asia, says the Vodka is not a beverage. … More “Vodka is Not a Beverage”
Today, I took a phone call from an African-American Pastor in the Chicago suburbs with grave concerns over the coming election. He had some serious questions. I love him. He is a friend. I have preached a number of times in his church. And we have been friends for almost 35 years. But I don’t … More American Christians, Listen Up
Woke up with this tune in my head for no apparent reason. Haven’t heard it in years, but I couldn’t get the line out of my head. Sang it all day. Oh to be befriended by God. Oh taste and see that the Lord is good. Ponder anew, what the Almighty can do, If with … More When God Reminds You of Glory
Looking my age is not the point but the launching off point for this post. Got my hair cut yesterday. The guy at the counter of Great clips was new. It had been an all female crew but this was the first time I’d seen him. “Did you sign in online?” “Yes,” I said, “I’m … More Looking My Age
Sunday Afternoon Musings How I need this word and how I need to believe it and live it and trust it! “To pray is the greatest thing we can do: and to do it well there must be calmness, time, and deliberation; otherwise it is degraded into the littlest and meanest of things. True praying … More Oh God, Make Me a Better Prayer
Working through my annual reading plan of the Bible. Today, I arrived at Numbers 1. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much. But then the Spirit of God opened my eyes to see something I have read at least 40 times over the years. It was always there; I was just blind to it—until I needed it, … More Surprising Finds in Scripture
One year I went to a denominational national conference and arrived onsite to find that the conference was offering 78 different major sessions, seminars or short classes to the collected conferees. It was an attempt to be helpful, that I felt was doomed to backfire. At the time I served with three other pastors a … More A Story, A Point, and A Book
I was introduced to the “Dumb Tax” at a Pastor’s Retreat. Some 50 pastors of churches between 500 and 1000 attendance gathered together to talk about best practices, issues of care for the congregation, prayer for one another, some commiserating and a lot of just caring for and encouraging one another in the work. The … More Paying the “Dumb Tax”
You will have to trust me, but this really happened Our church had just planted its 5th church in its first 7 years of life. God had been very gracious to us. The church had grown. We gained experience and had seen God do some miraculous things. Most of the churches we had planted were … More Praying the Same Prayer for 35 Years
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