At the beginning of every new year, we’re encouraged to improve ourselves, make goals, and take control of our lives. This isn’t wrong, but it’s only part of the story. Besides turning inward, we need to turn Godward. We find peace when we recognize that God is sovereign. We can only do so much. He…
Room
Did you ever stop to think how our culture influences how we celebrate Christmas? And not just the culture at large, but our own subcultures- how our family, church, and friends celebrate or don’t celebrate the holiday. In our nine Christmases in a third-world Asian country, not once did we celebrate as we would have…
Promise Keeper
Is there someone in your life who is trustworthy? You know they will do their best to keep their word? When they promise, they mean to keep that promise. Their word seals the deal. Yet even the best-intentioned humans fail. They can’t keep their promise because they get sick, or even die before making good…
Merry Christmas!
I had two experiences this week that reminded me of why Christmas matters. When you read these two stories you may not see what their connection to Christmas is. It didn’t strike me until later how the Christmas story and my experiences are related. A sixteen-year-old in our community was killed recently in an auto…
When We Don’t Understand
Two days ago from this writing, our friends lost their firstborn, 16-year-old son, in a car accident on his way to school. Two younger sons were in the car with him. They weren’t seriously hurt. Kind, gentle, serious, good student, good athlete, good to his siblings, genuine Christian, active in his church, loving toward his…