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This could be your year. We all have those things about ourselves that we know need to change. Maybe it’s a habit. Maybe its a relationship. Maybe it’s all-around life transformation that you need. You’ve been thinking about it for a while. Maybe you’ve even taken some initial steps and feel like you’ve failed. Now’s the time to make it happen. 2014 is your year. That’s why we are studying the book of Ephesians at The Bridge for the next twelve weeks in a series called,  ren

Praying in a way that impacts our world is not just for the super-spiritual. I’m not even sure who the super-spriitual are. God wants to engage with every-day Christ-followers like you. He wants you to be a man or woman of prayer. And you can be. If you didn't catch my last post , you may want to read it now before this one. This is part two. I’ve learned that prayer is similar to many other things in life, it’s hard to be effective without a plan. That’s where a prayer list

You read about people in the Bible praying for long periods of time and you wish you could do that, but how? Stories of prayer warriors like “Praying” John Hyde and George Muller intrigue you, but you think that kind of praying is only for the super spiritual.How does anyone ever pray for more than ten minutes at a time? I hear Christians commonly saying, “I run out of things to pray about and my mind wanders after more than ten minutes.” And for some, even ten minutes is a s

So you’re not a winter person. You endure the cold and the snow, but it’s not something you love. And every year come February, you start thinking about a warmer climate. But that’s not happening. I have friends who hated winter so much that they moved south. Most of them later regretted it. I have a better solution. Make winter wonderful. I’m not a fan, either. I grew up in Wisconsin and have lived in the cold and snow all my life. I’ve never gotten to the place where I’m ok

2013 might have been a great year for some, but for others, it was a year to forget.Some of you went through a painful divorce this last year. Some of you lost your job. Others had relationship failures, family drama, personal defeats and health challenges.For some, this was a year that you want to put behind you.But how?The Apostle Paul gives us a hint in his famous words used by many as a motivational speech, “Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mat

USA Today compiled a list last week on the ten news items in 2013 that received the most internet attention (total number of clicks by consumers). Here they are: Miley Cyrus smokes a joint on stage Actor Paul Walker dies Kim Kardashian gives birth to a baby girl Student wrongly tied to Boston bombings found dead Glee star Cory Monteith dies Miley Cyrus shocked even celebrities with her twerking Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashes in San Francisco Shooting rampage in D.C. Navy

Did you see the study that just came out of Mayo Clinic telling us how we can overcome the stress of the holiday season and enjoy it most?Sometimes the world gets it right. This study was just raw science with a bit of pop psychology thrown in. It’s been referred to in news programs this week as a help for people to enjoy the holidays. The findings are being published by Amit Sood, a stress-reduction expert and author of a new book, The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living

It’s not that this is the only time of the year that you get stressed out. But right now, you aren't thinking of last July when you had that meltdown. All you can think about is everything that is on your plate with Christmas coming less than a week away.You can be at peace this Christmas and you can find that peace now, so that you actually enjoy Christmas this year.It’s not complicated. I’ve got three simple steps for you. Take these steps seriously and follow them and they

The headline had it wrong. I’m not blaming NBC news, they were only quoting the current president of South Africa. But presidents even get things wrong sometimes. The headline and the quote, “He is now at peace,” was just a reference to Nelson Mandela’s burial. But Nelson Mandela was at peace long before he passed away. I’m not trying to deify him or any of the many things we do with beloved figures after their deaths. But one thing Nelson Mandela was not––a man of resentment

I opened my fantasy football page to rearrange my team for this week and was surprised that the regular season was already over. What? Already? It is midway through December. Boy did that go fast. And then I thought about my life. A few days ago my oldest little boy was toddling around proudly sporting his red cowboy boots. Oh wait, that was twenty-five years ago. Wow that went fast. Now he has a daughter almost that age. And its not slowing down. I’ve been at The Bridge for

Some passages in the Bible are hard to read. I just finished the Book of Judges and it was tough to get through. Not that the book is boring. Judges is full of interesting stories of war and leadership…mostly the lack of leadership. It contains the familiar stories of Gideon and Samson. But even in those familiar stories there is such a dark side to the circumstances and the people involved, even the heroes of the book, that it’s hard to read. The last three chapters are the

I find it interesting that people want to know in the aftermath of the death of a famous person whether or not they were followers of Jesus. I heard it after Steve Jobs’ passing (he was a non-practicing Buddhist) and even more so now after Mandela’s death. Mandela was a man of great passion. If you study his life, you will also find that, like most of us, he was complex. He courageously fought the injustices of racism but embraced violence and forms of terrorism in doing so.