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So the sabbatical has begun. I’ve started the summer off with a language immersion in Antigua, Guatemala. My daughter Erica is with me.Erica took Spanish in high school and though she has not used it since, an immersion like this brings it back. She’s doing remarkably well, conversing with our host family (they don’t speak English) and people all around town. I stand there and smile, occasionally nodding my head when she does so it's not obvious that I don’t have a clue. I do

The turmoil over Bowe Bergdahl and all that it entails has captured the news in recent days. At first, most of us were happy to hear of his apparent release. Then there came controversy about the negotiations and release of high level Taliban leaders in exchange. But the whole ordeal has exploded since other questions of Bowe’s apparent desertion and even the possibility that he deserted his company in order to aid their enemy.A lot of uncertainty remains regarding the circum

Maybe you are like me and you’d rather avoid conflict. I think that most of us hate it. Those of you who enjoy conflict––the rest of us try to avoid you. :-) And yet, dealing with conflict is necessary. Sometimes, avoiding it only sends problems underground to surface later with far more damage than if we would have dealt with the issue when it first surfaced. But is it always necessary to have those tough conversations when we disagree, are annoyed or offended, or see a prob

In my last post, I gave some reasons why it was important for our middle school and high school kids to be involved in church youth group and I promised some help with that in this post. So here goes. First, we have to remember that there are no guarantees when it comes to parenting. We will be responsible for the kind of parents we are, but our kids are responsible for their own choices and the adults they become. You can do everything right as a parent and your child still

Yup. I was that parent. My kids had to go to church. They also had to go to youth group.It had nothing to do with me being a pastor. It had everything to do with me being a Christian father wanting to pass on my values to my children, and having the humility to know I needed help with that.I suppose if I were a legalist, mean-spirited, or authoritarian, and didn’t have a close relationship with them, it might have backfired. But I’ve never understood why parents who would not

I know, we’ve barely had spring and now I’m talking about summer. But it’s coming and school will be out before you know it. To make the most of the warmer weather and the longer days, decide now how you are going to spend the summer and plan it. Here are a couple of suggestions. If you are going to vacation, schedule it now. Not just the dates, but what are you going to do? Where are you going to go? Have a family meeting to talk about it and that way you get to also enjoy t

Linda and I gave our kids a lot of leeway to make their own decisions. But there were some things, depending on their age, that we just told them they had to do. Other things they could ask our advice about, but we’d let them decide. But when it came to obedience, there was no need for advice. They just needed to do as we said. When they were little, bedtime was 8:30. Our kids never came to us at 8:30 and asked, “What do you think, Dad? Think I should go to bed or should I st

James Manning needed to get to court for a hearing on drug related charges. If he didn’t show, there’d be a warrant out for his arrest. But he didn’t have a way to get there. His solution? Steal a car. He and his wife, Teresa, stole a car from a used car lot and headed to the courthouse. While he was standing before the judge, the dealership used a GPS tracking device to locate their missing vehicle. Police showed up and Mr. Manning ended up with some serious jail time. Only

Some acts are hard to follow. If you were a follower of Jesus in the first century, after the death and resurrection of Jesus, now what? Have you ever been through an exhilarating and emotionally draining experience and then afterward, unsure what to do about it? That’s how it was for the disciples. Everything had changed for them. They had just gone through the greatest amount of upheaval that they could imagine. They were brought to the brink of despair at the cross, then t

I woke up at 3a two nights ago and looked for the moon. Sure enough, it was darkened and red, but with a sliver of light along the side. Eventually cloud cover obscured my sight, but three more times in the next hour, my wife and I got out of bed to see it. I’d seen lunar eclipses before, but this year is different. Have you heard all the talk about the four blood moons and their relationship to prophesy? John Haggee has a best seller out describing his theory (borrowed from

Life is good. You’ve got more than enough to eat. You have reliable transportation, more than what could be said for most people in the world. You have good shelter with central heat and air. You’ve got a decent job. You have family and friends. And you have lots of toys…electronic gadgets up the wazoo. But something’s missing. You can't quite put your finger on it. It’s not that you are never happy. Sometimes you are. But it doesn’t last. There’s just something missing. What

The Wisconsin Badgers came within a free throw of getting to the NCAA championship game. They hit 100% of their free throws in that game until that one. And that was the game. The game before, they beat Arizona by a point to make it into the final four. Arizona was expected by many to take it all, so they were obviously upset. Mayhem broke out in Tucson, with mob crowds starting fires, breaking windows, rioting, shouting and looting. Police armed with batons and tear gas and

I barely caught the report on the radio this week, an inquiry on the difference between those who are ruined by tragedy and those who bounce back.

I’m not one to claim that God is talking to me. I’m also very careful about saying that I’m doing something because God told me to.

Wouldn’t it be cool to have that job? You know, the actor’s double on the movie set. At least for a movie or two?Glenn Duhigg says, “No!"He was Tom Cruise’s stand-in for Mission Impossible 2. Here’s what he said about it... "I don’t think many people realize the long hours and constant demands that deflate your ego very quickly. The days are long. Whatever scene Tom was in, I would be the one standing there, being him sometimes for ages as the crew set up the shot – getting t

The Christian world in America was rocked on Tuesday after the Christianity Today interview when Richard Stearns, CEO and President of World Vision, announced that they would begin to hire practicing homosexuals who were legally married. It set off a firestorm of controversy among evangelicals, concerned that the infallibility and authority of Scripture was at stake. I shared those concerns as the Bible has got to be our foundation in belief, practice, and message. Otherwise

Back in 1993 the NCAA Division II College Cross Country Championships had a bizarre and terribly unfair finish. The 6.2 mile course had been marked out with flags by the race officials. But about midway through the race, the front runner, and subsequently those following him, missed a place where the course turned. One runner, Mike Delcavo of Western State College in Colorado, saw the mistake and made the correct turn, waving as many runners as possible to see the direction t

450,000 pound airliners don't just disappear. Until now. In Illinois, we are in the middle of a primary midterm election––today in fact. Russia has essentially invaded Ukraine and now occupies the state of Crimea. But its Malaysian flight 370 with its 239 people on board that has captured our interest. And it probably should. All 239 people are souls with families and friends. They are people just like us. We don’t know if they are alive or dead, being held captive in some re

If you are in a mess and much of it is your own doing, you are not alone. We’ve all made messes.When I say, “mess,” I mean circumstances in your life that are not what they were supposed to be, chaotic, out-of-control, and no clear solution.I’m talking about coming to the realization that you are in a bad relationship but you are so far in, that you don't know what to do about it or how to get out. Maybe it's severe financial distress, partly brought on by some not-so-wise de

I hate to disappoint people. I hate to tell a couple looking to get married that I won’t perform their wedding, nor will any of our pastors at The Bridge. I’m a lot bigger on saying, “Yes.”But I have to say, “No” a lot.It’s just that there’s too much at stake. When one of our pastors at The Bridge officiates a wedding, we take it seriously. We are not just an accompanying bystander, or a friend or family member attending and witnessing. We are participants, and endorsers of t