Little things often count in a big way. Bolts on a Boeing 737 Max door that rips off while in flight, thus endangering the lives of all onboard, comes to my mind. What appeared to be inconsequential held deep significance, because human lives were at stake. Two small coins in an offering box hardly mean anything except when they represent the attitude that is a must for all who enter the kingdom o...  Read More

Social scientists have been engaged in longitudinal studies across several generations to discover reasons for the apparent decline in religious involvement. Indeed, twenty percent of Americans are now described as being “nones,” meaning they are religiously unaffiliated. This number has doubled in just one decade. Some are anti-religious, others are skeptical about God, or only have “vague” belie...  Read More

Here’s my New Year’s counsel: You need to understand your life-map before you begin to goal-set. A life map is a timeline that draws upon key moments in your past, and it enables you to gain a wider perspective on the goals that you set and seek to achieve. Life-mapping means that each of us will answer the all-important questions (cf. The Transforming Life): Who am I? Where am I? What’s wrong? an...  Read More

John Newton, the great hymn writer, once said, “If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer –His grace sufficient, His promise unchangeable.”The psalmist knew this when he penned the 91st psalm. Let’s look carefully to see the ways that God cares for us in the midst of severe trials. The psalm’s structure The psalm may be divide...  Read More

Pope Paul VI once wrote a January 1, 1972, celebratory letter with the title “If you want peace, work for justice.” He stated that a peace that is not the result of true respect for others is not true “Peace.” He equated this sincere feeling for humankind to justice. Luke, in his celebratory Gospel letter, records the words of Mary who praised God for His sincere act on behalf of humankind that wo...  Read More

“Begin to rejoice in the Lord, and your bones will flourish like an herb, and your cheeks will glow with the bloom of health and freshness. Worry, fear, distrust, care—all are poisonous! Joy is balm and healing, and if you will but rejoice, God will give power” (A.B. Simpson). A keynote theme in Paul’s letter to the Philippian church is joy. The Apostle in fact uses the word “joy” 18 times in the ...  Read More

“Human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy” (C.S. Lewis). The Gospel writer Luke often uses historical “anchors,” as I will term them, to secure an event within a particular time frame (cf. HCBC). This is significant for us today because Luke wrote of an earth-changing event that has implications for all of time. Jesus came in...  Read More

Have you noticed that the greatest rescues often occur in the hour of deepest despair? I recently followed the stress-filled events following an under-construction road tunnel collapse in India where forty-one men were trapped for seventeen days. Hope hung in the balance as rescuers worked frantically around the clock to clear a path through 60 meters of collapsed shaft to rescue the workers.There...  Read More

“We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in light of what they suffer” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer). These words reflect true biblical meaning and will often get a person persecuted!For example, I recall a time in ministry when I received a phone call from a religious-party activist who told me that I was being “watched” because I had not responded rightfully ...  Read More

Many climb the mountain of suffering and even rise above their circumstances, but they fail to understand how they arrived or how they will survive the descent. Job provides us with a powerful example of how to endure suffering and emerge victorious. The heart of Job’s testimony is grounded in his faith, and his example causes us to ask a question of our own life pilgrimages. What do we do when Go...  Read More

An oft-heard maxim is that you cannot legislate morality. Perhaps this is so, but we can bow our hearts to the Lord and live out the mandates of His law He has written on our hearts. This humility before the Lord provides us with standards for right living that will lead to His peace in our hearts, homes, churches, and communities (see Matthew 5:9, 17-48).The violence from Israel to Ukraine to her...  Read More

Corrie Ten Boom once said, “The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation.” Speaking of contributions, have you ever wondered why Mark would include this story of a poor woman’s offering at this pivotal place in his Gospel account? I have! He makes a powerful point by calling all of us to measure our gifts by their quality, not simply their quantity. But why would he want...  Read More