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It’s impossible to prepare well for the future without reviewing and learning from the past. 2025 might have been a great year for you, or a horrible year. But whether or not it has a positive impact on your future depends 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.

Seattle experienced flash flooding this week, with water overwhelming levees, resulting in deep flooding on the streets. Some people had to be rescued off the roofs of their cars. One man ignored multiple flood warning signs and drove past road-closure signs. He lost control in the deep water on the street and slid into six feet of water in a ditch. Sadly, he drowned in his car. I knew a guy who ignored tightness in his chest, shooting pain in his left arm, and lightheadednes

Last week I blogged on holiday stress and gave you a three-step plan of attack to deal with it. This week, I came across a study released by Mayo Clinic and authored by Amit Sood, a Mayo stress-reduction expert. Sometimes the world gets it right. This study was just raw science with a bit of pop psychology thrown in. It’s been referred to in news programs and other articles as a help for people to enjoy the holidays.

The trees are up, lights are lit…Christmas season is here! It’s supposed to be a wonderful time of the year. So how come you are so stressed? You can be at peace this Christmas and you can find that peace now, so that you actually enjoy Christmas this year. And it’s not complicated. I’ve got three simple steps for you.

2024 is soon to be over. For some of you, it was a great year. But for others, it was a year to forget.

It doesn’t make sense, but it was my favorite Christmas. It especially doesn’t make sense that it was our kids’ favorite Christmas…but it was. It was a difficult year financially. Our expenses were high and income was low. We had a capital campaign at church and we committed a gift over and above our regular giving that was a stretch for us. And then we had some medical bills not covered by insurance.

When the type on his printer began to grow faint, Bob called a local repair shop where a friendly clerk informed him the printer probably only needed to be cleaned. Because the store charged $50 for cleanings, the clerk told Bob he could read the printer's manual and try to do it himself.

A young woman was complaining to her father about how difficult her life had become. He said nothing, but took her to the kitchen and set three pans of water to boiling. To the first pan, he added carrots; to the second, eggs; and to the third, ground coffee. After all three had cooked, he put their contents into separate bowls and asked his daughter to cut into the eggs and carrots and smell the coffee.

The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People changed my life 30 years ago. I read the book in two days on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, 1992-1993. Before that, I had made meager attempts at setting goals. But starting that Friday, January 1, 1993, I became very serious about it. I set four lifetime goals, about a dozen long-term goals (10 years), and another dozen 1 year goals. And my life was changed in a significant way.

I can hear Andy Williams’ voice from childhood, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” It was that for me. It was the one time of the year when our whole family would be together (until my teen years), and my parents got along. So I associated Christmas with happiness.

There’s a meme flying around on social media picturing a man staring off into the distance with the words: “Wondering how I can get my wife the perfect Christmas gift when she already has me.”

Every December I get questions from parents asking for my opinion on Santa: “Did you tell your kids about Santa?” Some Christians are very adamant: “Santa Claus is a replacement of Jesus in this secularized society and just another way of spreading materialism.” Others see the fable as a harmless, delightful fantasy: “I believed in Santa when I was a kid and it didn’t hurt me! It’s just a fun way to give the kids a little magical spark.”

The only reason Christians celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25 was because the Romans had a pagan celebration on that day and Christians took it over. Right?

This last month I’ve been writing about the Four Faces of The Bridge. We took last week off because it was Christmas weekend. But we’re back to finish the series this week.

Once an artist was painting a winter scene. As he began to paint, the scene that unfolded on the canvas was of snow covered ground and pine trees. The artist's hand brought the day to a close and night fell on the canvas, and the entire scene was covered with semi-darkness. A grim log cabin was barely visible in the shadows.

Two weeks ago I began a mini-series called Four Faces of The Bridge. Each of these faces can be found if you look for them. Every church should have them and I am not sure I would want to be part of a church that didn’t. Hopefully, you will look for your own face and do an honest evaluation of where you are at.

Last week I introduced Four Faces at The Bridge by talking to the Spiritual Seeker. If that describes you, we are glad you are here, and we’d love to help you in any way we can. Jesus Christ is real in our lives, and we’d be thrilled if you saw that and received him into your life.

In these next four blogs, I’d like to introduce you to four people. One of them is you. We’ll call this The Four Faces At The Bridge.

It was the day before Christmas Eve and she was trying to finish up some last minute shopping at the mall. The kids tugged her towards the line to make requests from Santa. After a 25 minute wait, they were finally able to sit on his lap and tell him their dream gifts for the year. Mom smiled knowingly, as she had already wrapped most of those items. On the way out of the mall, they passed an

It’s not been a good year. We started to realize this last March. By April, I was reading articles and memes about turning the calendar back to 2019.