We are just days away from the end of another year of our time together on this earth. It is a good time for reflections, and so I want to share with you some of the spiritual lessons the past twelve months have brought to me. I am not the same person I was when 2016 began. I have learned much this…

There was an old preacher who loved his children dearly and longed for them to live right.  As they grew older, he did not want to browbeat them or make them think he was always “preaching at them,” so he looked for a way to lovingly and gently encourage them.  He came up with his own heartfelt catchphrase, “Whatever you do, don’t…

After the riots and civil unrest that took place in the summer of 1967, many cities across the nation enacted a mandatory youth curfew of 10:00 p.m. As a result, a reminder to parents was given on air before the late night news from the late 60’s and into the 80’s. The reminder was, “It is 10:00 p.m. Do you know where…

The recent elections in this land focused on what politicians considered the worst problems in American. Their agenda was to say that they were the most qualified to deal with whatever problem they considered the most threatening. However, is it possible that all of them failed to see America’s greatest problem might be the problem of addiction? Think for a moment of…

Paul told his fellow Christians in Corinth, “I urge you, imitate me…Imitate me…” (1 Cor. 4:16; 11:1).  He told his fellow Christians in Philippi, “Brethren, join in following my example…The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do” (Phil. 3:17; 4:9).  What would that early church have looked like if they all truly mimicked the life…

What do you talk about over dinner? There is an international initiative that started at the University of Washington called, “Let’s Have Dinner and Talk About Death.” The plan is to initiate conversation about end-of-life care and wishes from loved ones. According to this group, people are not having this conversation. When asked why have it at the dinner table, they said,…

The book of Psalms is remarkable in so many ways. Many of the psalms come from the heart of a shepherd boy of Bethlehem and give us great insight into the very soul of a man after God’s own heart. One of the psalms repeats a phrase over and over. The psalmist said, “Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord…

Too often when we are reading the Bible, there are words, phrases and clauses that we just run right over without stopping to consider, dwell and meditate.  An example is found in a relative clause that Paul used in 2 Corinthians 7:6.  The point that Paul is making in the passage is that Titus had brought good (i.e., comforting) news about the…