Remember trying to crack open the piñata at a friend’s birthday party? There it was, a thing of great value, swinging from a rope tied to a tree limb. As a kid your only desire is to break it open. But you’re blind-folded, so you can’t ever hit the darn thing! So a helpful parent comes along and does what all parents do at piñata parties. First, they tell you to stop swinging (so they don’t get killed)! Then …
Category: Relationship with Christ
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. 1 Peter 3:18 ESV ~~~ At Easter we celebrate a great victory at a terrible cost. The agonizing work Christ completed on the cross and His miraculous resurrection from death’s grip changed literally everything. For followers of Christ, Jesus’ victory over Satan and death is the trigger …
From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth— he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. Psalm 33:13-15 (emphasis added) A few months ago one of our daughters asked her sister for some help with her new health insurance. Her sister, who works in a related field, thoughtfully helped her through the details, options and decisions. As they talked back and forth, I was struck at how much my wife and …
Whether it’s sports, fashion, cooking, family, work or cars we all have our priorities. As men, many of us obsess over sports. We listen to sports radio, we talk about injured players, we even cheer “fantasy” teams. For other men, it’s a near obsession over work…to win and be #1. For women it might be Cosmo, Oprah, romance novels, work, a clean house, popular friends or lots of disposable income…and the right purse(s). Nothing wrong with any of these for sure…but the …
You probably don’t think much about gravity, but it’s around us all day long. Drop your laptop on your foot and you’ll quickly experience the reality of its unseen power. There’s another unseen power that’s also around us all the time – namely, God. Thinking of God and realizing His presence during the busyness of our days, is hard for us ‘earth-bound’ souls. Like gravity, many of us go through long stretches without many focused thoughts toward God. I am in this mode some …
We get snow infrequently here in Atlanta, so, when it does snow, even now at 52 years old, I turn into a kid. I love watching kids build snowmen, I love to sit indoors watching it fall, I enjoy standing outside as the flakes land on my bald head…heck, I still eat it (as long as it’s not yellow). I even used sleet from this week’s blast as ice in my Coke Zero…just like a 12 year old. The long-awaited gentle, quiet …
Sometimes I lose my mind and begin to think that my main job in life is to manage the affairs around me in such a way that my family and I encounter the fewest problems. I am sorry to admit that attempting to control events, plans and outcomes was an overarching goal of mine for many years. Keeping the cars working, avoiding accidents, hoping everyone stays healthy, maintaining a secure job, holding off issues with neighbors, pressuring our kids to …
One thing is consistent about vacations….you don’t want to leave. You long to remain there for one more swim in the pool or one more hour at the beach. We all want to linger, tarry, continue and remain on vacation. This word remain is the same word used in scripture when Jesus reminds us of a secret to a great relationship with Him. John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me …