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I’ve been digitizing our family videos so that they are on a more permanent and up-to-date media. Most of them I had not seen since we taped them. It sure brings back memories of parenting. I miss those years.Because our lifestyle was so closely tied into the church, a lot of those videos were church functions and gatherings with other families with kids around the same age as ours. There were lots of campouts with other families, parties, Awana and youth activities, and just

Forget the tightrope, I can’t balance on a stationary balance beam. It’s funny, when it’s close to the ground, I can run right across for yards, without any trouble. But put it up in the air a few feet, and I’ll topple off by my third step. There’s something about increase risk that unnerves us.Then you think about balancing on and walking a wire suspended in the air. The trouble with tightropes is that, even when as taut as possible, they move. Now you are trying to keep you

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Thursday was a good day. Junior hosted a one day get-away with our Bridge teachers for a mini-retreat, to build camaraderie, talk ministry philosophy, and go over Bridge teaching parameters. We had breakfast in a small town diner, went kayaking, cooked brats and burgers over an open fire, and did a lot of talking. But from the moment we brought up kayaking, one of our teaching team members began to exhibit a lot of anxiety. James was born and raised in Nigeria and has lived o

Have you ever noticed it is a lot easier to get into things than to get out? It’s easier to get into debt than get out. It’s easier to get into a relationship than get out. It’s easier to fill your schedule than to fulfill your schedule. And that’s why every decision we make, matters. Decisions have consequences.A lot of us are struggling with the consequences of past decisions that we made quickly and rashly. A major purchase with ongoing payments. A one night stand with a b

A friend who is a cop told me about a bust they did of a middle age husband and father who had a secret room in his basement filled with child porn. He said that the man’s wife and kids knew the room was there, but that it was paddle locked shut and they were not allowed in it. It was “Dad’s secret room.”  Horrible. I know. But that’s not the only time I’ve heard of secret rooms. I’ve run across it in marriage counseling…men having a room where their wife and children were ne

I had an EKG and an echocardiogram the other day. When I entered the room, the technician said, “I know you. I hear you on the radio. You are the pastor of The Bridge." She listens to Karl and Crew on Moody Radio, where I’m a periodic guest.As she put on the electrodes, and then followed with the ultrasound, she talked. And it was fascinating. She told me about all the conversations she has in that room. She said, “People ask me in here, ‘Am I going to live or die?’ And I tel

Everything in life flows from your thinking. You are what you think. Your thinking determines the things you do, your reaction to things done to you, the friends you make, and whether or not you enjoy the things around you. Thinking is everything in life. And all of that thinking comes from your brain.The human brain is the most amazing computer ever devised. But as complex and marvelous as it is, it operates on a very simple principle, input produces output. So what you thin

I’ve not been very good at investing finances for the future. Linda and I are now playing catch-up for the a day when we’ll be too old to work for our income. But neither of us regret it.We do regret some expenditures when we bought things we could not afford and saved less because of it. But we don’t regret our overall priorities in life. For us, our lives were always about investing in others, putting time, energy, and resources into people and into ministry. We gave sacrif

“Pastor, I miss the old days when we knew everyone at church. I’m glad for the people getting saved, but we’re getting too big.”That was part of just one conversation I’ve had over the years with concerned church members over the changing atmosphere of the church as it grows.But let me ask this, do you think it is really that important to God that you know everyone in your church? Can we find that value anywhere in Scripture? If God wanted us to know everyone at church, why w

Mike (not his really name) grew up in a stable family, had a good wife and a couple of happy kids. He had a decent job, drove a newer car, and lived in a nicer house than I have ever lived in. And he was healthy.But to him, everything was wrong. His parents were annoying, his wife was a nag, his kids misbehaved, his job was stressful, his car didn’t have bluetooth, his house needed repairs, and the doctor said it was time for a colonoscopy. How bad can it get?I wasn’t very sy