Training the heart is not always easy. It is bent and resists being straightened. When we bought our house here in South Carolina, we inherited a six foot hook for a hanging plant in the back yard. About a year later we had to take down a number of trees in the back and I … More Into Your Hands, I Give Everything (Psalm 31)
I love it when people feed me stories that feed my obsession for “intensely local” ministry. This week, I heard a story that was a perfect fit for what can happen when we ask God to give us opportunity to make a difference in our neighbors lives. Here’s the story. John and Jessie are new … More Intensely Local: A Cooking Lesson
There are so many heroes and heroines that time has forgotten related to the gospel’s advance and the proclamation of the name of Jesus (Acts 4:12). Tonight my bride and daughter and two grandchildren started to watch the Ingrid Bergman movie, “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness”. It is the story of Gladys Aylward, a … More Other Heroines Forgotten in Time
Read Psalm 77 Soul Care and Mental Health are in the news. Ever felt like God had deserted you, like you were abandoned by the only one who could save you? Ever felt like the resources at your disposal were not up to the situation at hand? Maybe you have been in a situation that … More Teaching a Soul to Sing Again: Biblical Patterns of Soul Care
Growing up in Eastern Pennsylvania, I and my brothers and sisters grew up with an awareness that our family name “meant something” in the neighborhood. We weren’t rich. Dad usually was working three jobs and Mom also worked outside the home for different stretches when things still managed to get tight. Raising 7 children spread … More Pastoral Failure and Righteous Fear
Four new books I’m putting on the top of my nightstand. Loving each one. Historical Criticism of the Bible: Methodology or Ideology? Reflections of a Bultmannian turned Evangelical, by Dr. Eta Linemann. Dr. Linemann was a German scholar who was a personal student of Rudolph Bultmann. She taught for almost two decades in the German … More Four New Books on My Night Stand
God rested (Gen. 2:1-2). Rest is important. Israel was commanded to rest one day a week (Lev. 23:3). God’s rest is our model. The land was to get a rest every 50th year (Lev. 25:8-13). Rest is important. Most of us don’t truly rest—enough. To put it another way. We disobey God, and no, we … More Rhythms of Rest
I was talking to a friend today at the end of the Evangelical Free Church of America Theology conference at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL. We were catching up on one another’s lives and ministries, sharing prayer requests and seeking to encourage one another in a three decades long friendship. My friend Roy, … More Broken, Hurting Pastors: 9 Sources of Pastoral Disintegration
Something to Think About David had some tremendous highs in his walk with God. He also had some frightening lows. As I have studied in the life of David I have been motivated as never before to live a godly life. One of the chief motivators for me is very simple, FEAR. I don’t want … More Something to Think About from the Life of David
Friendships have always been very important to me. I’m not sure why really, except that without my friends I often feel like less than nothing. The friends God has given to me have brought unpronounceable joy to my life and not a few heartaches. They have been God’s instruments to make me a better man … More Ancient Words from a Lost Friend
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