It's difficult for us in an affluent country to not buy into the idea of comfort. We see those around us who have things and we oftentimes long for those. These things aren't necessarily bad but where is our heart when it comes to finances? I believe it was Billy Graham who said something like show me someone's checkbook (that dates things) and their calendar and I'll show...

Today, in my devotional time I was in Proverbs 21 where it says; Every man's way is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts. This passage freshly reminded me of something. When I feel like I'm hearing from the Lord through his Word, I write a note down with a date to remind me of how God has used the Bible to speak to me. I have numerous places in my Bible w...

I'm in the swimming pool industry and have been since the early 90s. 1990s not 1890s. I currently work for a manufacturing company where we've been one of the fortunate ones, in that during COVID, we've absolutely exploded. I was also self-employed in the pool business in 2008 when the housing market crashed where we lost 90% of our income in a single year. During the cra...

You've heard the old story of the frog who gets put in room temperature water and doesn't notice the incremental changes once the water is heated and therefore dies. I don't even know if that's what would happen, but I do know that as humans, we have difficulty realizing the slow societal changes around us and how they might actually affect us. In my time with the Lord th...

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another with love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.Ephesians 4:1,2 In my time with the Lord this morning, this verse hit me hard. I t...

2 Chronicles 22:4He did evil in the sight of the Lord like the house of Ahab, for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction. In my time with the Lord this morning I was in 2 Chronicles 22 where Ahaziah takes leadership as King. He makes the fatal mistake of getting bad counsel which ends up costing him his life. We may think we would neve...

"Crazy times we're living in." I wonder how long people have been saying that. Likely, throughout mankind, some variant of this phrase has been on our lips. I was recently reminded of how easily we as Christians can look to our government as savior. We might not think we do but let's examine this together. When our political party wins, we rejoice and feel a sense of assu...

Today I was in Philippians 2 where Paul encourages us to consider others as more important than ourselves and it made me realize how much of a struggle this is for most of us. Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves. We would all agree we should put others before ourselve...

I have been freshly convicted that I love my comfort more than I have realized. Our neighborhood is ripe with opportunity but as an introvert I struggle with getting out there and mixing it up. I've recently realized it's less about me being an introvert but rather that I idolize comfort. Since getting out there we've had the opportunity to point people to the only hope f...

In my devotional time this morning I was in 1 Kings 13 where we read the story of a prophet who was commanded by the word of the LORD to not eat or drink on his journey. An old prophet lies to him and tells him that the LORD Lord spoke to him also and it was okay for the younger prophet to come to his house and eat and drink. As they were sitting at the table eating and dr...

How often do we secretly love the praise of people? Psalm 115:1 says Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory. Why would God need to remind us that the glory should be to Him and not to us? It's because we have at our core a deep seated desire for the praise of people. Look at any young child who gets applause for doing something cute and they will do it ...

A brief view on forgiving others....

What does this picture say about your Christian life? Do you see it? I'm sure there are other thoughts that could go along with mine but I see the chains that once bound me to my sin and the post that kept me in check to do the bidding of my former master. Here's the beauty of the picture. I'm not there anymore! By God's grace I've surrendered my life in repentance and f...

Getting a proper perspective of people we don't agree with....

How the Quality of our Work Tells the World About Our God Obviously this picture is getting a little out of control. I don't think that's what God is referring to when he tells us in Colossians 3:23 that whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men. The point of the passage is to make us aware for whom we are working. Whatever our labor is i...

Proper perspective for worry...

What would you think if you walked by a bar and saw a Christian brother or sister inside? Many of us would instantly cast judgement upon our brother or sister or maybe just wonder in the back of our mind if they are struggling with a secret issue. We may even go so far as to let others know about who we saw so they can 'pray' for them. In our world today it's really easy...