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If you are not an outdoor person, you should become one.Seriously, the benefits of getting outside into nature are massive. Study after study has demonstrated this. Spending time in nature reduces stress, improves sleep, boosts immunity, alleviates anxiety, and promotes mental and physical health, and restores your view of the world, your place in it, and the problems you are up against, with renewed perspective. Did you know that just a walk through tall trees immediately in

Awful, awful, awful.We can’t imagine living the horror and grief of moms and dads in Uvalde, Texas. And this, on the heels of the horrible shooting in Buffalo.I have been in tears this morning, waiting for my own granddaughters to arrive, knowing that there are sobbing parents today who no longer have that hope.What is happening? How can this be? These mass shootings are becoming commonplace. Nothing like this happened while I was growing up in the 70s. Now, it’s multiple mas

“It is to one’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel” (Proverbs 20:3 NIV). Too many of us do not think this way. Instead, we are so quick to argue, even insert ourselves into other people’s arguments.Scripture teaches a different way. The wisdom offered by the author above says that it’s an honor to avoid strife and that it is fools who are quick to quarrel.If we are to be totally honest, we’d have to admit that most of our squabbles stem from our pride.

In Christian circles, we are told that we should glorify God. But what does that mean?In the Old Testament, “glory” carries the idea of greatness or splendor. In the New Testament, “glory” means “honor, praise, and worship.” Both testaments teach that God has all glory, and yet we are also instructed in both testaments to glorify God. If God is already glorified, why and how do we do that?From our human perspective, to glorify God is to point out or show his glory to others,

It's Mother’s Day weekend. But if the day’s founder, Anna Jarvis, were here, she wouldn’t celebrate it. We know that because, though it was her work and influence that put the special day on the map, and even brought it to National Holiday status, after the commercialization set in, she began to loathe what it became. She openly denounced it, begging people to stop buying cards, flowers, and candy. By the end of her life, she spent all of her personal savings in legal fees lo

I used to watch The Brady Bunch as a kid and longed to be in a family like that. They had parents who calmly led. They had each other when things were going well and not so well. They sometimes fought, but always came together. I’d almost forget that it was a TV show and wish that I could be in that family.My family wasn’t like that. We were often separated. There was a lot of anger and not a real sense of belonging. But truly belonging in a family was something I longed for.

Is  follower of Jesus the first thing that comes to mind when people think of me?What about you? What comes to mind when people think about you?Look at what Paul wrote the Thessalonian Christians in one of his letters, “For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how y

Philosopher Walter Kaufmann wrote a book ironically titled The Faith of a Heretic. After explaining our cosmic insignificance, he concluded: “What I want to do and would advise others to do is to make the most of life: put into it all you have got, and live, and, if possible, die with some measure of nobility.” Uugh. To tell us to die with nobility when there is no hope beyond this short life is farcical at best. Compare Kaufmann’s philosophy to Jesus’ words: “I am the resur

There is good reason we get afraid. Fear protects us from harm. But fear can also become an enemy. It robs people of joy. It hurts important relationships. It can become a barrier to life itself. Like every emotion, the good in fear can betray us and make us think we are just taking proper precautions, when in fact, we are being ruled by unreasonable distress. It’s good for us to self-examine. Am I communing with God with trust in his goodness and power? Will I continue to tr

When I was 9, I heard about an all star game at the end of little league season and I wanted to make that team more than anything. But I wasn’t that good. So when players were picked and I wasn’t, I couldn’t accept it. When the day of the game came, I got up early and put my uniform and cleats on, anyway. I got my glove and jumped on my bike and rode to the field where the game was being played. And I sat on the bench with the other players with my glove in hand. I thought th

I was a 20-year-old college student driving down an interstate highway. I didn’t have any money, but I did have an AMC Matador (AMC is no longer around). Traveling at about 65mph, the hood latch gave way.  The hood popped up and slammed back into my windshield, creating a spiderweb crack and covering my view of everything. It was just like the movie Tommy Boy. Talk about scary! Somehow, I braked slowly and was able to move to the side of the road without hitting anything.It’s

This past week I’ve tried to educate myself into the causes behind this terrible war in Ukraine. The history behind this is quite complicated. Not that long ago, Ukraine was more developed and militarily stronger than Russia. From the twentieth century until today, it has been embroiled in a constant struggle between its European and Russian ties. The name, Ukraine, literally means border state, as in the border between Russia and Europe. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, t