A young evangelist complains to Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “I haven’t seen many people converted under my preaching.” “Well, do you expect God to save someone every time you preach?” “Of course not.” “Then you have no reason to complain if God’s not giving you what you aren’t expecting.” Pray for Others Expectantly God wants preachers […]

It’s hard to be a Grace-Focused Optimist when you look out at America. Take just this past week and a half. Charles Krauthammer—one of the rare people in Washington speaking with intelligence, wit, charm, and courtesy—–died. And politicians, pundits, and proprietors seem bent on making us a house divided that cannot stand. Looking out at […]

One of God’s least talked about miracles is his miracle of making an iron axe head float (2 Kings 6:1-7). The head accidentally becomes a mini-Titanic when a seminary student is using it to help build a dormitory. Somehow it flies off into a river and sinks. Since it’s a borrowed axe the situation’s as […]

God is the wonder-worker (Psalm 136:4). He keeps a burning bush from being consumed, preserves three men in a fiery furnace so that “the hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them,” and causes a young virgin girl to conceive and give […]

Good, Good Father is the title of a Chris Tomlin song. I first heard it when my grandson Andrew James Chase went to be with Jesus after 4 ½ days of earthly life. The song was a musical Good Samaritan to our family as we lay bleeding on the Jericho Road of grief. The song’s […]

Imagine you’re on Family Feud. The category’s “People Who Are Really Well-Off.” Steve Harvey asks you, “Name someone the survey says is really well off.” What’s your answer? How does Jesus answer this question? After all, he’s the only really well-off-ness expert there is. Like everything else, when it comes to answering the question “Who […]