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I completed my fifth Bridge tour to Israel ten days ago. Every time I go, I find deep meaning revisiting both Old and New Testament sites. Seeing where Jesus lived and taught is very meaningful. It’s interesting how every time I go, I learn something new.

There was a reason for our Hoist the Sail theme verse: “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever” (Romans 11:36). We know intuitively that everything we do as a church is to be pointed at God’s glory. But is that true of your life in general?

Linda and I were in Wisconsin a few weeks ago, and we drove by the building of the church we established over 35 years ago. It feels good to drive by the building and know that all that work paid off…that there is still a strong and growing congregation there. The four pillars holding up the carport caught my eye.

I took a class in seminary called Theology of Prayer. It was beneficial to explore every passage in Scripture about prayer throughout the semester. One of the projects for that class involved completing a week of thanksgiving and writing a report on that week. The project was pretty easy but remarkably valuable.

Christmas is coming! Parents, how will you approach the Santa thing this year?

You should skip Thanksgiving this year if you are a grumbler, complainer, or a generally negative person. After all, you’ll just be a hypocrite. Why would you celebrate a day that you don't believe in? If your modus operandi is to look for what you think is wrong and voice it, just forget the day. Everyone will be looking at you like, “What’s she doing here?”

At dinner time when our kids were little, we would take turns praying before eating. It was 5-year-old Brock’s turn to pray. When Brock prayed, he never prayed only for the food. I tend to get right to the point, thank God for the food, say “Amen,” and we start eating. Brock, however, liked to talk to God.

Officials in China recently cited 35 restaurants for adding opioids to their entrées in an attempt to engender customer loyalty through addiction. I have to wonder who came up with the idea and how it spread to other nearby restaurants.

Friday was All Saints’ Day, or officially, All Hallows' Day. We actually get Halloween from this holiday as the night before was called Hallowed Evening, and then shortened to Halloween. No, Halloween is not Satan’s birthday…Satan wouldn’t have a birthday, but that’s a whole ‘nother blog.

You should’ve skipped Thanksgiving this year if you’re grumbling and complaining today. After all, you were just being a hypocrite. Why would you celebrate a day that you don't believe in? If your modus operandi is to look for what you think is wrong and then voice it, why did you even celebrate Thanksgiving? Everyone was looking at you like, “What’s he doing here?”

“It is to one’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel” (Proverbs 20:3 NIV).

Years ago, the city of Pittsburgh constructed a large, new post office that cost millions of dollars. On the day of its opening, the governor made a speech, the bands played, and the people cheered. It was quite a celebration. But when the first man entered to mail a letter, to the embarrassment of the engineers, it was discovered that they had omitted the letter drop in their rush to meet the deadline. Here was a costly new post office, with no place to mail a letter! This s

Wednesday was All Saints’ Day, or officially, All Hallows' Day. We actually get “Halloween” from this holiday as the night before was called “Hallowed Evening,” and then shortened to Halloween. No, Halloween is not Satan’s birthday…Satan wouldn’t have a birthday, but that’s a whole ‘nother blog.

I took a class in seminary called Theology of Prayer. It was beneficial to explore every passage in Scripture on prayer through the semester. One of the projects for that class involved completing a week of thanksgiving and writing up a report on that week.

The first attempt to dig the Panama Canal across the Isthmus of Panama was made by a French company. Thousands of men and tons of machinery tackled the remote mountains and thick jungles. However, after millions of dollars had been spent, the project was abandoned, not because of the mountains but because of the mosquitoes.

A park ranger at Yellowstone National Park was leading a group of hikers to a fire lookout. The ranger was so intent on telling the hikers about the animal life and vegetation along the way that he thought the noise coming his two-way radio was distracting, so he switched it off.

No language has as many words for joy and rejoicing as Hebrew does.

They often are not. Not that long ago, I visited a couple of locations where television programs were regularly filmed for the History Channel. I was surprised both times.

The first pastor that I considered my pastor, was someone who had gone through tremendous hardship in life. His first wife and three little boys died in a car accident, in the car he was driving. He was the sole survivor, and his physical recovery took a year.

If you use The Bridge Bible reading plan, as I do, you read Proverbs 20:3 today, “It is to one’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel” (NIV). I thought, how rare this is for people in general, and even Christians in particular.