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Brock was our easiest as a teenager. He has a good heart and loves his parents and is good to his siblings.But as a little tyke, he was more than a handful! He was into everything, broke all of his toys and a lot of things around the house. He never stopped moving and we had to keep a constant eye on him. On the rare occasion that he napped, Linda would often quip, “Don’t worry, he’s just recharging.”When he was three or so, he was buckled into his car seat next to his sister

Several years ago my sister and brother-in-law moved into an old Victorian home that was in rough shape and needed renovation.

Linda and I were at the beach a couple of years ago, and a young college-age couple picked a spot to lay in the sun not far from us. (That’s them in the title pic). We both were mildly amused while watching them, as it was obvious they were a new couple and just getting to know each other. The girl pulled her towel out and spread it over the sand in a single motion. The boy pulled his towel out and repeatedly tried to lay it out on the sand. But he was trying to unfurl it aga

I was sitting in my office with a man going on and on about his terrible marriage. His wife does this and that, is on him about everything…blah, blah, blah.I finally interrupted, “What would she tell me?” He said he didn’t know. “So you are having a really bad time getting along with your wife and you don’t even know what she thinks is wrong in the marriage?"“Oh, I can tell you what’s wrong in the marriage!” he exclaimed. I responded, “No, you don’t know have a clue. You’re n

Poor guy. He made his dream escape! And it’s not easy to escape from the Washington State Penitentiary. It took a lot of planning, perfect timing and hard work. But he did it! Then, however, he had to elude authorities. After spending a day on the run, without food or shelter, he came across a cabin in the woods. Perfect! If the place is unoccupied, it would be a chance to catch up on a little sleep, maybe scrounge up some food. If someone is home, he could get help, maybe mo

We were into building go-carts when I was a kid. Not anything that was motorized. We didn’t have access to motors, and it’s probably good that we didn’t. But we were pretty good at building and racing push carts (with a long pole) and pull carts (with our bikes).The earlier models were all wood…and heavy. But then we started to figure out how to take old tricycles and bicycles apart to use the tube frames, axles, and wheels for less weight and friction and more speed. We were

A family checking out our church on their fourth week at The Bridge commented to one of our pastors, “This is our fourth week here, and we haven’t heard the main guy, yet!"Granted, they were not here four weeks in a row, and I don’t like to think of myself as the main guy, but there’s no doubt, I’ve been speaking less, this last year in particular.It didn’t use to be that way. Early in my ministry, I spoke every week without missing for a couple of years…52 weeks straight, 2-

I had a conversation with a guy a while back, who had a defeatist mentality. From an outsiders perspective, his life was really good.

Some horrible things happened in Florida last week. Horrible. Forty-nine dead, plus the shooter, and fifty-three injured. And who will ever forget that horrific ordeal of the alligator and the little boy? So where was God? Let’s face it. There’s a lot of really bad stuff in the world. Last week, it seemed to be concentrated in Orlando. But not really. Right now, civilians in Fallujah are trapped in their own city and facing roaming death squads of ISIS combatants. So far this

I will never forget it. Maybe the most embarrassing day of my life.It was early in my freshman year of high school. I was happy because it was a rare day for me to eat hot lunch in the school cafeteria, rather than the usual bologna sandwich I brought in a brown paper bag. I had just sat down at a table of some friends and picked up the salt and sprinkled it on my food. Martin, evidently, thought it would be hilarious to unscrew the top for some unsuspecting soul, and I was t

We’ve all heard of Jesus’ most well-known miracles, his walking on the water, feeding 5,000, healing lepers and raising Lazarus. In fact, many of these stories are so familiar to us that we zone out as they are being told. Familiarity dulls our sensitivity and we are no longer amazed.But think of the lepers who were healed and think of their families' reaction when they were able to return home. These people hadn’t read the Gospels, or any children’s Bible story books. These

I know, we’ve barely had spring and now I’m talking about summer. But this is Memorial Day Weekend, and summer is virtually here. To make the most of the warmer weather and the longer days, decide now how you are going to spend the summer and plan it. Here are a couple of suggestions.Schedule vacation. Not just the dates, but what are you going to do? Where are you going to go? Have a family meeting to talk about it and that way you get to also enjoy the anticipation. Some of