Ah the morning shift of getting kids off to school. One kid is happy and jumps out of bed, getting dressed, talking about the day. The other kid, GRUMPY! Everything is awful, difficult; you get the idea. I'm reminded of a song my mom used to sing to me that we sang in church. "Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say Rejoice". Why do I just expect my grumpy kid to be h...

Paul's first letter to the Corinthians produced a sorrow in the believers that led them to repent of their sins (2 Corinthians 7:9). "Repentance" refers to the desire to turn from sin and restore one's relationship to God. "Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation" (v.10). "Godly sorrow" refers to sorrow that is according to the will of God and produced by the...

DistressedThe past few days I have been distressed. Distressed by the magnitude of God's love for me Distressed by my complacency Distressed by His patience Distressed by the magnitude of my sin. Distressed by His Overwhelming Grace Distressed by my fickle and wandering heart. Distressed by His Unconditional Love in spite of me...So what does he want? Hosea 5:15 ~ ...

It can definitely be said about me that I like to take care of my problems on my own, if I am in sin my natural tendency is to "fix it" or try and overcome it on my own. This weekend, while up at the #menference in Prescott with a bunch of guys from Church, God, like He is always so faithful to do, hit me with my sin. Now we were encouraged, told, sometimes even held down ...

Ephesians 5:15-1715 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Here are some words from of our SCW group's study of Ephesians BE RICH, by Warren Wiersbe. ...We cannot know what a day may bring forth (James 4:13-17)....

Vicky, her sister, their Mother, and I just got back from a week of traveling in central California. Didn't get through the first day without falling to my biggest weakness (sin)--anger and bitterness. Over what? Getting on the wrong road due to none of us having ever been in this area, and wrong directions given to the directionally challenged driver. As our community gr...

July 18th is an awkward day for me to say the least. It is my birthday, but it also happens to be the day that my dad passed away. I hesitated to write about it, but my wife said that maybe someone would be encouraged by it. I am hoping that is the case because despite being one of the hardest moments of my life it is also a reminder of one of the kindest things the LORD h...

I was reading about Paul and Barnabas in Acts 14 today. Here's how the account begins: "Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed." Acts 14:1 The phrase "spoke in such a way" stood out to me. What was this "way?" Whatever it was, it was effective because allot of Jews and Gr...

This past "Father's Day" I received a gift of the book lots of folks have been talking about, Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus. (interesting that this book titled, Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus would become a follow-on favorite to our study of Walking as Jesus Walked.) The study, research and insights of these authors is very expansive. Yet their stated, "goal of ...

Wow, there is nothing like vacationing with one of our kids' family, total 7 of us, out of town,, to remind me that living this grandparent season of life is a daily/hourly or minute by minute, walk in Proverbs 16:9 The mind of a man plans his way, But he Lord directs his steps. Yes, we started with a singular purpose in mind, sharing some time at time shares in Sedona. F...