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You should skip Thanksgiving this year if you are a grumbler, complainer, or generally negative person. After all, you’ll just be a hypocrite. Why would you celebrate a day that you don't believe in? If your modus operandi is to look for what you think is wrong and voice it, just forget the day. Everyone will be looking at you like, “What’s she dong here?” Now if you are wondering if this post is written for you… just check with a friend or two :-). Seriously, Thanksgiving is

My wife was pretty frustrated while trying to open one of those impossible clear molded plastic packages, “I wonder how many people wind up with stitches from these stupid plastic packages. I’ll bet the emergency room is full of injured people at Christmastime." I didn’t blame her for being frustrated. I avoid buying anything packaged that way if I can help it. I actually pay more for an item when it is in a box or a simple container, rather than having to fight with a heat s

Is Thanksgiving a Christian holiday? That depends on how you celebrate it. There’s nothing Christian about gluttony. While I love football, and a lot of committed Christians will be playing in the traditional Thanksgiving games, there’s nothing Christian about football per se. Just having the day off and getting together with a big group of people will not make the holiday “Christian”.On the other hand, the concept is deeply Christian. The worship book of the ancient Israelit

So in my last post I wrote about the value of meditation. But for some of you, you feel left in the dark. You know what meditation is and that the Bible encourages it, and that it is valuable, but you have no clue how to do it or where to start. I hope this follow-up post helps.My favorite method starts with choosing a portion of Scripture with between a half dozen to a couple dozen verses. The number of verses will determine how many days it will take to study and fully assi

Is Meditation even Christian? Isn't that like a Hindu or Buddhist thing? Meditation in eastern mystical religions focus on emptying the mind. Christian meditation is altogether different. The Bible encourages meditation as a filling of the mind with the Word of God.Joshua instructed God’s people to “meditate day and night” on His Word (Joshua 1:8). Psalm 1 tells us that the wise man meditates on God’s Word day and night. David prayed in Psalm 19:14, “May the meditation of my

Nothing short of heartbreaking. 10,000 lives lost…at the time of this writing. Heartbreaking.Then we ask, “Where is God in this?”As a Christian, I believe that God is sovereign. That means that he is in control. He is in charge. Jesus reassured us that even a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without our Heavenly Father caring about it. So what about this typhoon, the human suffering, the children? Does God care more about a sparrow learning to fly than he does people?Jesus

I’m being asked a lot of questions regarding the change in Illinois law allowing for same-sex marriage. Some are wondering if the Bible says anything about the subject, and if so, what. Others are expressing their concern for the disintegration of traditional marriage. Some are upset that the church is not doing enough to preserve Biblical marriage in America.“What is your position?” or, “Why aren’t we talking about this as a church?” are some of the questions I am getting

Have you ever felt totally out of place, unsure of where you were at, and less sure about where you were going and how you would get there?I’m writing this while on a plane heading to Paris. It was a sudden opportunity for a free, albeit quick, turnaround trip to a place I have never been, so I’m taking advantage of it. My wife is a flight attendant and when she was suddenly awarded this trip with a long enough layover to do some sight-seeing, I quickly rearranged my schedule

There was an interesting story in the news last week about a living man who was declared legally dead. He wasn’t comatose. He wasn’t brain dead. He wasn’t even “mostly” dead. He was alive, talking, walking and sitting in the courtroom in front of the judge who declared him to be legally dead. Donald Miller disappeared in 1986 and after family, police, and private investigators could find no trace of him, he was declared legally dead in 1994. He later reemerged in 2005. After

I was waiting towards the back of the pack of 40k+ marathoners to approach the starting line to begin the “race”. It was over an hour from the time the first group of runners started before the final group crossed the starting line. Shortly before my group even got to the start, the announcer, being humorous, said, “I have some bad news, you’re probably not going to win.” I chuckled, knowing that the leaders of the race were already nearly half-way through the course. But the

So the federal government is shut down. Well, it isn’t really, but some aspects of it are. And it’s making for political warfare in Washington, at National Parks, private businesses operating on federal land, and even in barroom brawls and interoffice debates. I get both sides. The Republicans believe they were elected in the midterm elections to do what they are doing, to stop the madness of overspending. And we have to admit, outspending our means and perennially increasing

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done? I’m not asking what the hardest thing you’ve ever gone through, but what’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done. Emotionally, the hardest thing I’ve done has been to let a staff person go. I spent quiet time alone in tears, both before and after those dreaded meetings. Spiritually, the hardest thing I’ve done took place a year and a half ago when I committed to pray for a hundred hours in a month for people’s souls. That was nearly thr