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 […]
They’re called skeletons in the closet. Things that you’re ashamed of. Things you no more want people to know about you than a spy wants to be found out. Things you do everything you can to keep as secret as the password to your retirement account. The writer of Hebrews tells you something astounding about […]
Living as a Grace-Focused Optimist is as crucial to living for God as oxygen is to your lungs. When you’re optimistic that God’s always up to your good you’re like a spiritual Navy Seal who’s fully prepared for whatever you face. In dependence on him, Grace-Focused Optimists glorify and enjoy God. The Grace SWAT Team […]
He calls it his “thorn in the flesh.” “He” being the Apostle Paul; “it” being a problem that was a rock in his shoe he couldn’t shake out. He leaves his thorn as nameless as Arlington’s unknown soldier. He simply calls it a “weakness.” But he insists that, for a while at least, it blistered […]
I read my Bible every day. I miss a day about as seldom as a teenager goes a day without texting. Not often. I read my Bible because I am a Grace-Focused Optimist and it’s the Operating Manual for Grace-Focused Optimism. Living as a Grace-Focused Optimist is living with The Christian Attitude toward life. It’s […]
Since its been several weeks since our last post in the series “How You Can Help Your Church Be a Force for God” we thought a brief review might keep you from feeling like you’re coming into the movie twenty minutes late. We saw in part one of this four-part series that it’s by super-sizing […]
How do you become someone who helps your church become the force for God he wants it to be? You begin super-sizing your prayers. How do you begin super-sizing your prayers? By making the Apostle Paul’s prayers for the church your prayers for your church. Paul prays super-sized prayers. Meaning what? Meaning he didn’t pray […]
I had to. The only thing I can compare it to is holding your firstborn for the first time. It’s not as significant as that. But it is almost as moving. What comes close to cradling your own flesh and blood? Standing in a bookstore and seeing your literary firstborn on a shelf. That happened […]
