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It’s impossible to prepare well for the future without reviewing and learning from the past. This might have been a great year for you, or a horrible year. But whether or not it has a lasting impact depends largely on how you bring it to a close.God wants to do some special things for you and through you this next year. But first, he wants you to see how he’s done that this last year. I’m a goal setter and planner. But I also love to keep past blessings alive by reviewing the

It seems like that’s what everyone wants us to believe.

Mary was a nobody. Joseph was too. Shepherds were the object of ridicule. Bethlehem was a tiny outpost. But today, more people around the world know and admire them than the most famous of modern celebrities. The Christmas story is filled with little people, little places, and little things. It seems that God loves most to use those of us who are acutely aware of our limitations. I think he takes pleasure in overwhelming us with blessing that we know we could never have acco

It snowed last night and it felt like Christmas waking up and walking out in the cold air with a thin veil of snow crunching beneath my feel. But it won’t be here long. It’s supposed to get up to 50 tomorrow. Will it still feel like Christmas? What puts you in the Christmas spirit? Shopping? Putting the tree up? Wrapping gifts? A Christmas concert? Family and friends gathering? The snow falling? I love all of those things…minus the shopping. But I’ve had a lot of beautiful Ch

One of our fine staff members made a very simple error in our database that left me with some incorrect information for a phone call I needed to make. I was a bit embarrassed on the phone for appearing like I “didn’t have a clue” but it wasn’t a big deal.I sent a quick note to Becky (oops…I mean the anonymous staff member) letting her know about the mistake, but I told her it wasn’t a big deal. She apologized and said that she felt bad because it’s her job to make me look goo

While some of you absolutely love this time of year, others of you dread it. For some, it brings back hurting memories and it feels physically and emotionally draining. But whether you love the season or hate it, it is here nonetheless.

…than to get restarted. That’s all I could think of last night while huffing and puffing and sweating profusely. I was only two miles into a measly three mile run and a pace much slower than I ran seven weeks ago. But that was the problem. It’s been seven weeks since the Chicago Marathon, and I’ve not run so much as a block since. It’s a lot easier to keep going than to get restarted. Had I kept it up, three miles would be a cakewalk. But we left for Israel right after the ma

Today’s post is guest written by Chuck Lawless and reprinted from Thom Rainer’s blog: thomrainer.com. I reprint it in edited form, coveting your prayers for me and our other leaders at The Bridge. Nine Ways to Pray for Church Leaders by Chuck Lawless 1. Pray they will keep their eyes on God. King Jehoshaphat faced three combined enemy armies, and he did not know what to do – except to lock his eyes on God. That’s the answer any time we have no clue about next steps. “For we a

Regarding the right balance in teamwork, Darryl Zanuck wrote, “If two people on the same job agree all the time, then one is useless. If they disagree all the time, both are useless.”I’d have to say that besides the usual expressions of gratitude for this weekend, one of my greatest blessings in life is to serve alongside a diverse, godly and gifted team. I am truly thankful for our staff here at The Bridge. They challenge me and each other, and then work together as a powerf

Today (Thursday) is a sick day at the Zieglers. Linda, Erica, Brock and I all have the stomach flu. We got it from Madison. Thank you very much Sweetie Pie!So Brock and I were sitting in our living room reading and Brock had his music playing and as I’m listening to the lyrics to the song, I thought, “That doesn’t sound good.” So I said to Brock, “What kind of song is that? ‘I want you to pull my britches down’?"“What? No Dad, it’s, 'I want you to burn my bridges down!’"I gue

While The Bridge is one of the most peaceful churches you will ever encounter, being full of people and led by frail men, we do face minor conflict from time to time. Probably the most common surrounds the purpose of our church and what kind of church we believe we are supposed to be. When you think of it, once that is settled, most other decisions are simplified and we are able to clearly see our way through to the things we do and don’t do, and how we approach every ministr

Maybe you remember President Obama saying that shortly after he came into office. I did listen to his speech on Wednesday after the Republican wave in the House and Senate, but I didn’t hear him reiterate those words. :-) But elections do have consequences.That’s true in politics and in life. You probably know me well enough to know that I don't use my platform or this blog for politics. I’m not talking about politics here. I’m talking about life. You see, an election, at its

After ten days of traveling and touring, we arrived home last Monday. If you’ve kept up on my previous posts, you’ll see that we had seven full days of touring Israel. Our eighth day was a free day, and Linda and I and a group of a few others, did a tunnel tour under the streets of Israel. It was fascinating, of course, as we were able to see aspects of the city near the Temple Mount that date before the time of Jesus. That evening, we boarded a plane to go home. It’s always

We visited quite a range of sites today. We went into the Judean mountains west of Jerusalem and located the Valley of Elah where David fought Goliath. We walked along the stream bed (it is dry this time of year) where he picked out five smooth stones and we found our own as keepsakes. We then visited Beit Shemesh, which was Delilah's hometown. It is mentioned a number of times in the Old Testament because it was a border city occupied by Philistines and the site of numerous

Every settlement, village, or city in the ancient world had to have a water source. The nomads even chose their temporary encampments by proximity to water source, and they wandered the desert following the vegetation, which follows the water. The Bedouins are today’s nomads of the Middle East and that’s exactly what they do. They follow the water.It’s all about water for everything living. It’s not as stark in the modern developed world or in climates such as ours, because w

Today was all about the footsteps of Jesus. We left our hotel at 7:30 this morning and went to the Mount of Olives. This was moving for me. While there are many sites that are in doubt, there is no doubt about the Mount of Olives. It is still covered with Olive Trees (it was a grove in Jesus’ time), some that are still being harvested. Jesus spent a lot of time here. When he visited Jerusalem, Luke tells us that he would spend the days in the city and then retreat to this pla

Today was our first day in Jerusalem. There is so much to see here that we know we won’t get it all in. I’ve already learned so much that I can’t catalog it all in my brain just yet. I thought I was pretty familiar with the city and the country without having been here. But I now realize how little I knew.Our guide wisely started us off at the Jerusalem Museum of Antiquities where they have an outdoor 50:1 scale model of the city as it was in 66AD, before the Jewish revolt w

It’s only when you’re small, that you can be big.Jesus taught that. And it was a theme in the things we saw today.We started off visiting the Ein Harod springs, where Gideon thinned his army from 10,000 fighting men to a mere 300, before miraculously defeating the Midianites. You remember the story of how God told Gideon to have the men drink from the stream of water, and only those who drank from their cupped hands would be chosen? It happened right here.From there we trave

It’s only our second day touring Israel and we already feel like we are drinking from a fire hydrant. Today we worshipped in a church atop Mount Carmel, explored the 3,500 year old ruins of the ancient city, Megiddo, and visited the hometown of Mary Magdalene, where we also saw a first century synagogue that Jesus most likely attended and even ministered in.Magdala, the birthplace of Mary Magdalene (“of Magdala”) is an ongoing archeological dig that was discovered only a few

Today was one of the most interesting days of my life. And the fulfillment of a life-long dream.This was the first touring day for those of us on The Bridge Experience Israel group. And what a way to start.We took a boat across the Sea of Galilee, explored Capernaum, visited the area where Jesus delivered his famous Sermon on the Mount, and I baptized dozens of people very near where John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. In fact, just for the experience, and th