I have a confession to make. Some time ago I got tired of praying for our government, so I stopped. Yes, I felt guilty about it. Yes, I knew I was breaking the Bible rule about praying first for kings and those in authority (1 Tim. 2:1). But I didn’t know what else to do. I’ve always been lousy at praying out of a sense of duty. So if I pray for anything long enough without sensing any joy, without experiencing the quickening power of the Holy Spirit, and [...]
I hope I never forget what the Spirit of the Lord said to me on September 11th, as I watched the towers of the World Trade center flare then crumble in smoke and ashes just a few hours from my home. It’s not what I would have expected Him to say. He didn’t pat me nicely and say, “There, there, now sweetheart. Don’t be afraid. Everything is going to be all right.” It would have been perfectly scriptural if He had. After all, the 91st Psalm says a thousand [...]
Simply put two drops in each ear. It doesn’t sound like the punch line of a joke, but it is. At least, my parents thought so when I was a kid. Whenever something turned out to be waaay harder than anyone expected, they would burst out laughing and say to each other, “Ha ha ha! Simply put two drops in each ear!” The line isn’t funny to anybody else in the world, of course. Eventually I noticed this and asked them about it. Turns out that when I was [...]
Last night the coach of the Boston Celtics preached a great message. (Too bad his team didn’t listen.) He said, “Guys, trust! If you trust, you’ll play free. And if you play free, you can’t be beaten.” Whoa…good stuff, Doc. Not just for NBA players but for those of us who have suited up in righteousness and are leaving it all on the court for Jesus. For us, as for Garnett and gang, trust is the key. As long as we trust Jesus—His love and commitment to us, His power working [...]
It happened before I was born, but as a kid I heard the story many times. About my dad, mom and sister rumbling down the Oklahoma highway in a Studebaker headed for grandma’s house. The sweet smell of summer streaming through the car’s open window. My sister’s cherub-blonde hair whipping across her face. No car seat laws for children back then, she was standing in the front seat beside my dad as he drove when she seized the moment as only a toddler can. Reaching for the car keys, she [...]
The celebrity media is all abuzz these days about the wrinkle-free face of 47 year-old Demi Moore. I shouldn’t know this, but I do. Not that I read the tabloids or anything. I just see the headlines about it when I go online to check the day’s news. Today I learned from them that Demi’s husband, a toddler named Ashton, has reaffirmed that her youthfulness is genetic not synthetic, and that they’re planning to have a baby. As I pondered the accompanying photo (and the tag line that promised [...]
Who could have imagined it? Ivy league psychologists, often at odds with all things Biblical, have published a study that provides further validation (if anyone needs it) of Romans 1:19: For the truth about God is known to [all men] instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. (New Living Testament) Who opened the eyes of the august academians to this profound spiritual truth? A bunch of babies. (You gotta love it.) According to a news report citing today’s Daily Mail: ...experiments conducted by the psychology department at [...]
Just read a great article by Jack Hayford warning about the lack of serious discipleship in today’s church. Pointing to the current ecclesiastical emphasis on marketing and consumer appeal, he says: “We're within frightening reach of being able to grow bigger churches while failing to grow bigger people. We are increasingly tooled and trained in technology and management techniques, better resourced with music and media effects, and better housed and staged for added consumer appeal. While not attacking these outsourced resources, I'm asking about our outcomes. Amid our heavyweight enterprises [...]
I’ve been in Oklahoma City for the past few days, attending a writer’s conference. Not a Christian writer’s conference, mind you, but the secular type. It wasn’t too secular, of course, because of the location. As everybody knows, you can’t swing a dead armadillo in Oklahoma without hitting a dozen Baptists, a handful of Charismatics, and a Nazarene or two. But, still, the conference had a refreshingly unreligious feel to it. What I liked best about it was the marvelous variety of “characters” I encountered there. A motley crew, [...]
When my daughter and son-in-law were newlyweds, they rang our doorbell late one night to introduce us to the newest member of their little family—a muscular, square-jawed boxer puppy named Maddie. Her full name, they informed us, was Madeleine, in honor of Madeleine Albright, the first female Secretary of State. I can’t recall why they chose the name but it’s a distinguished one, for sure, and over the years Maddie has almost lived up to it. She is not fluent in English, French, Czech, and Russian, with good speaking and reading abilities [...]