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Yesterday was bill paying day. When Linda and I finished and closed the budget spreadsheet, I was in a whiny mood. Who likes sending money out…paying bills?But then a thought came to me, as though it were a rebuke from the Lord. “Look at all you get for what you pay!”I have a warm house in the winter; a cool house in the summer. I have two reliable cars, also with heat and air. We turn a knob and we get our choice of hot or cold water. We turn another knob and we have fire to

If you’re already familiar with Romans 8:28, read it again anyway, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (ESV). It’s a Scripture commonly quoted in Christian circles. But what does it mean? Until recently, I thought I understood it well.But I was reading Romans 8 from the New English Bible (NEB) this morning and had to read verse 28 a couple of times. The translation quoted it differentl

If you’re reading this, you don’t want to do that. You wouldn’t be on this page if you didn’t have some interest in church things. Even people who do not go to church are usually happy when their kids do. Church people say they want more than anything for their kids to know and love God, and to be a part of a good church. But the trouble is, too many church people are turning their kids away. How? •  By attending when it is convenient. Kids can be fooled for a while. But they

How you manage your emotions has more impact on your marriage, raising kids, and doing well at work than just about anything else. Daniel Goleman, in his book, Emotional Intelligence , demonstrates how a person’s ability to manage his or her emotions has more influence on their success in life than IQ.But managing emotions is not easy. As Goleman said, “The emotional brain responds to an event more quickly than the thinking brain.” Our emotional reactions to things tend to ge

Someone asked me, “What gets you up in the morning? What gets you out of bed?"The Resurrection of Jesus.If it really happened, it’s the biggest news in world history. It answers all the questions of humanity. It also solves all the problems of mankind. If Jesus really rose again from the dead, there are huge ramifications that transcend a church doctrinal statement. It matters for everyone, inside and outside the church.Jesus’ resurrection proved that there is life after deat

The northwest suburbs are very safe. Our crime rate here is low, and things like murder, rape, home invasions, etc., are rare. But when we moved here from a small town in Wisconsin, we felt like we were moving into gangland. Only because it was “Chicago” and people outside the area associate Chicagoland with lots of crime.Our first night in our house here, August 1, 2007, was one I’ll never forget. Of course, all the doors were locked. Some of our things were still scattered

There is no feeling worse than feeling out of control.I was twenty years old, living in Texas, and on my way home from work. I had gotten up before dawn that day to fix my car, so that it could get me to work, so I was unusually tired. I kept nodding off but was sure I could keep myself awake. Bad decision. When my right front tire left the pavement, it jolted me awake. I saw the speedometer at 55, looked up, and saw a power line pole directly in front of me. I hit the brakes

Linda and I are planning to climb our first 14,000 foot peak this summer. When we decided to go for it, it seemed like quite a feat…at least for a couple of novice climbers like us. But when I compare that to the 29,020 foot Mount Everest, it’s nothing.Climbing Mount Everest has a fascinating history (I will never be a part of it!). Until the mid 90s, 1/4 of all people who attempted to make the summit died in the process. Last year was one of the deadliest years for those mak

Who or what you worship determines who or what you are. In his book, The Source, James Michener tells the story of a man named Urbaal, who was a farmer living about 2200 B.C. He worshiped two gods, one a god of death, the other a goddess of fertility. One day, the temple priests told Urbaal to bring his young son to the temple for sacrifice––if he wanted good crops. Urbaal obeyed, and on the appointed day drags his wife and boy to the scene of the boy's "religious execution"

Who are you rooting for in the upcoming presidential election? Well, don’t tell me, at least, not in this forum. And I’m not going to tell you here, either. But I can tell you this…I’ve eliminated a number of names from my list just because of their lack of civility. I know, politics is nasty and all of them, or at least their campaigns, eventually feel the need to go negative. But I long for true statesmen. Men and women of integrity who debate the issues, point out policy a

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 the grave is farcical at best.Compare Kaufmann’s philosophy to Jesus’ words

When you read the title, you might respond, “You don’t.” After all, we can’t force our faith on others.I have learned, however, that those we think are not interested are often the most responsive to the Gospel, if approached correctly.Understand why many are not interested, or appear not to be. Some have been witnessed to before by people they want nothing to do with or be like. Many have seen hypocrisy among professing Christians and it has turned them off. Others just assu