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Most of us can point to our greatest regrets in life as things we did or didn’t do when our feelings were in control. It’s always a mistake to let your emotions guide you. Facts–Faith–Feelings. Feelings are a blessing when they follow, but a curse when they lead.But the real problem for most of us is the heat of the moment. It’s when we are in the middle of overwhelming feelings, whether anger or anxiety or lust, that we tend to do things that create havoc in our lives. So wh

“If you are going through hell, keep going.” ― Winston S. Churchill This thing is going to last awhile. The virus is going to be around for many months to come. “Returning to normal,” if there will be such a thing, is a long way off. As a church, we can’t even plan a reopening because that date is not within sight. It pains me to say that, but that’s our reality. So, what are we going to do? Get discouraged? Climb into ourselves and quit emotionally? Let down our guard in the

“Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.” – C.S. LewisA few years ago, Linda and I sat and talked with Jean Meisner in her room at hospice. Jean was very special to me. She was an office worker here at the church when I started in 2007, and was a constant source of wisdom and entertainment during my first four years. As a teenager in the 1940's, she became a Christian through the youth group in this church, met her husband, and raised

I just went back through my own blog posts over the last few months. Almost every post of mine, going back to February 13th of this year, had something to do with COVID-19. I guess, week after week, I’m feeling like it’s almost insensitive to not write about what we are all facing.But maybe it’s time to get back to the basics of life. What are the things, whether alone in quarantine, or forced together 24/7 with family or a roommate, that will breathe life back into our circ

At first we watched from afar. We knew something was going on in China, but that was a long way away. Then, we heard murmurings of this threat that was becoming an international problem. There were the cruise ships, the travesty in Italy, and some scattered cases in the U.S. We were told to stop shaking hands, refrain from touching our faces, and to wash our hands repeatedly through the day.Then came social distancing orders, ramped up week by week. Schools closed. Restaurant

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.”I cannot help but to say, that 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

You thought you were lonely before. Now, this quarantine. Many Bible characters could identify with you. Jesus spent a lot of time alone, and he knew the pain of feeling all alone in the world.God cares for you and how you are feeling right now. But he also has answers, and there are some things that you can do in the middle of this to help. But you have to be committed to following through. Start by viewing your situation differently. There are people who crave the kind of

I think most of us are wondering, “When will we be back to normal?” Dr. Anthony Fauci recently suggested that it will be months before normal  returns. But is that what you want? Do you really want normal back? Is that what you are shooting for? Honestly, I’ve never wanted normal. Normal is average, or the median of a set of data. Is that what you want? Not me. For all of us, there are some things from our pre-COVID-19 lives that needed to be changed. It’s usually during a ti

There is good reason we get afraid. Fear protects us from doing things and being places that would harm us.But fear can become overwhelming. 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.In a time like this, it's good for us to self-examine. Am I keeping fear in

People are panicking. Unless you just emerged from a cave, you know what I’m talking about. Grocery stores are void of canned goods and toilet paper because so many are stocking up. Every day there are new announcements of cancelations, for fear of spreading this new virus. The airlines have had to cancel thousands of flights, not just to quarantined countries, but domestic flights as well. People do not want to get on an airplane filled with potential COVID-19 carriers. Scho

When hiring people for a ministry staff position at The Bridge, one of the things I pay closest attention to is how the candidate converses during off-times, when not being interviewed.Who does he/she talk about? Is it always, or even, usually, about themselves? Do they show genuine interest in others, or do they work to get people interested in them?There are some people who are very good at getting conversations back to their own thoughts, opinions, experiences, or interest

“How do I know what God wants me to do?”I get that question a lot. Sometimes the answer is straightforward. If it’s addressed in Scripture, there you have it. But often it’s not a matter that’s addressed in the Bible. Like, “Should I switch jobs to this other opportunity?” or “Is it time to buy a house?”God cares about all of your decisions and he wants to be included in them. But that doesn’t mean that there are always right or wrong answers to the choices we make. Here are