Have you recently felt you deserved something, but got passed by?  The first record of such feelings is in Genesis 4.  Cain was downcast because his offering was not accepted by God, as Cain thought it should be.  God warned him to face his condition of self-pity.  He said, “If you do not do what [...]

When you do something wrong, are you willing to admit it?  Some people seem to live as if they never do anything wrong – or should I say they don’t ever say they are sorry.  Others deny that what they have done is wrong.  They simply cannot admit it.  A number of others choose to [...]

We run all over the place, enjoying our lives, attempting to keep up with our obligations and trying to hold everything together.  There are so many opportunities – so many good shows to watch – so many people to keep up with – so many places to go and things to do.  This can become [...]

Skype is really shrinking the world in real time.  More and more people can talk “face to face” over the Internet – either on their computers or now on their iPhones.  What used to seem like a long way away is now literally in your face.  We can often access one another instantaneously, but we [...]

Over the last few decades people have spoken about finding “themselves.”  Some have laughed and said they didn’t realize they were missing or lost.  Others have made this search their serious life quest, and still others think the whole idea is a waste of time.
 
Finding out whom you really are deep inside is a wonderful [...]

When we speak of physical strength and overall conditioning, a fair amount of attention is given to strengthening the core – the abdominal area of your body.  This region houses many of the vital organs of your body – and serves as the physical power center of your body.
When we speak of spiritual strength – [...]

“What’s new?”  Sometimes it’s another way to say, “Hello.”  At other times it’s a real question – it’s a way of asking for a life update; “I’d like to know what’s been going on recently in your life.”
At times that simple question can be hard to answer.  “There’s nothing new under the sun;” that’s what [...]

Does what you do today really matter? In all reality, you can get away with just about anything – particularly if you try to conceal it.  Yet, what you do is very important whether it is detected and understood by others or not.
Life at its core is relational.  And what you do will always affect your [...]

“Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?”  Many of us know this opening line from the nursery rhyme, though we probably haven’t a clue as to what it is actually talking about.  Whatever was specifically intended, it most certainly has some reference to growing “Mary’s” sphere of influence. 
Most of us would like to [...]

“Repetition, repetition, repetition – that’s the key,” said the strange elderly woman.  As I was running this morning, a peculiar woman with a cane stopped, began to make unnatural gestures with her hands, looked into my eyes and kept repeating the above phrase.  As I continued to run, I pondered her comment.  “Is repetition really [...]

“You can tell a tree by its fruit.”  We have a huge mulberry tree next to our driveway.  Every year we can be sure of a few things.  We can be sure we will have a tree full of wildlife from mid-June to end of July … all kinds of birds and many, many squirrels [...]

Life is far more a matter of faith than we sometimes think.  We tend to feel like the weights of life fall directly on our shoulders, that we are responsible to make things happen, to keep healthy, to make good decisions and provisions for the future and to keep safe.  However, if God really is [...]

What do you do when all your alternatives look bleak?  Sometimes it looks like there simply are no good options – to stay as you are won’t work, to choose option A will not help, and to choose option B might be the worst choice of all.  What do you do then?
Four Samaritan men with [...]

Does it seem to you that everyone is more tired than they used to be?  Maybe this is just the perception of one who is looking through an aging lens, but it might be based on some growing realities in our culture.
I imagine that people were more physically tired 100 years ago after a long [...]

We are bombarded by so many stimuli each day that it can be difficult, if not impossible, for us to process and keep up with our lives emotionally.  So, most of us are carrying around a certain amount of unresolved issues.  This may lead to bouts of depression, exaggerated responses or fits of anger or [...]

When we run hard we tend not to seek God very much.  This is often unfortunate because we can easily get off track without noticing.  We can be pushed and pulled by challenges, obstacles and opportunities.  When we don’t take the time to seek God, our decision making platform is usually very weakened.  We may [...]