My basketball coach in junior high was a no-nonsense coach. That’s an especially tough position to take when you’re dealing with middle school boys, but he laid out his expectations and “that was that.” If you goofed off in practice, you didn’t play in the game. If you goofed off in the game, you were immediately benched and ran suicides alone in practice the next…

For the benefit of all perfect husbands and perfect wives, you can stop reading now. This article is not for you. Go and find something else to do. This is for the less-than-perfect. Some days, marriage can be spectacular. Some days, marriage can be tough. Often, we might suggest that the determining factor in whether our marriage is “spectacular” right now or “tough” right now is how…

Do you know someone who thinks that they are “God’s gift to women” or “God’s gift to men” (as the sayings sometimes go)? I have known of preachers who thought they were “God’s gift to a congregation” and elders who thought they were “God’s gift to an eldership” and employees who thought they were “God’s gift to their job” and spouses who thought…

When the Old Testament comes to an end in the book of Malachi, there was much for the Jew (and now for the modern Bible reader) to learn. Without even looking at the specific instructions from the Lord and the specific rebukes that He issues to them, look at some simple wording used repeatedly in this short book. In a book that only…

Our nation is certainly not what it used to be. When the phrase “under God” was added to our Pledge of Allegiance, President Eisenhower commented about those two words, “They will help us to keep constantly in our minds and hearts the spiritual and moral principles which alone give dignity to man.” Thirty years later, President Reagan advised, “If we ever forget that we’re…

There is probably dwelling in your mind right now some really great movie quotes like, “You keep using that word” or “May the force be with you.” There is probably abiding in your mind right now some really great song lyrics like, “When you wish upon a star” or “It’s the eye of the tiger.” Your mind could go on and on in reciting…

How is it that so many Bible readers can believe such very different things about the Bible? It is hard to follow the line of reasoning sometimes, as individuals on two different sides of an issue try to use the same Bible to argue different positions. How is that possible? Often it has to do with to whom or what they’re listening. Paul wrote, “Now…

“You may have some good thoughts, and I concede the right for you to have your own thoughts, but if I’m being honest, I want you to know that your thoughts are not as good as my thoughts, and if you were truly wise and insightful, you would come to think about things the way I do.” Have you ever thought something…