Penetrating The Darkness

How a Weak, Tormented Man Still Strengthens the Body of Christ   He was too mentally unstable and self-destructive to leave an enduring legacy of faith in Christ. Too emotionally fragile to make an eternal difference. Too introverted, too much time spent in...

  Even Christians sometimes seek ultimate fulfillment in the wrong places, or through relationships limited in their capacity to satisfy. Faith-strengthening fellowship with other believers is a top-shelf priority.  God often incarnates His love through people...

Even if you feel robust and twenty years younger than your age, the two perspectives I cover in this post will apply to you. Physically speaking, have you ever felt lower than a snake's belly in the floor of the Grand Canyon? Have you ever been plagued by an...

This won't read like a Christmas post at first, but keep reading. Scene 1  Right after God delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt, the Moses-led multitude found themselves between the proverbial rock and a hard place. In front of them, the Red Sea. Behind...

God's Help for the Healing of Memories Note to my readers:  This is a full-length article, not the usual 1000 words or less post.  It's a deeply personal story of learning to forgive someone in my family.  Due to the dysfunction and unresolved issues in so many...

A True Story   "Get in the car!  Now!" My dad, his face beet-red and his voice booming, hustled my older brother and me into the back seat of his old Chevy. Dennis and I, in the neighborhood of 11 and 8 years old, knew not to resist dad when he was...

Other than the Christ child Himself, or our immediate family members, perhaps there are no more precious gifts than close friends. A close friend is someone who knows you well, and for some hard-to-figure-out reason, loves you anyway. A friend gives you his or her...

If push came to shove, if I had to choose between my life and allegiance to Christ, would I finish with the same flourish?  Would the way I died shine light on the spiritual darkness of those who yelled for my life to end?   Story of Staunch Faith He was 86. ...

The Greek verb "to encourage" literally means, "to come alongside." It's what happens when I leave an interior light on and my car battery gets depleted. Someone pulls alongside, uses jumper cables to make a physical connection, and "gives me a jump," infusing my...

How does God's Word speak to troubling thoughts, vacillating emotions, debilitating despair, and tantalizing temptations?   Dilemmas and Defenses The desire to go on has leaked out of me.  There's no strength of will or spirit in me to face the day's...

Creditors (such as the IRS) ruthlessly try to collect what we owe them.  Threatening letters.  Edgy phone calls. Garnishment of wages. Their tireless efforts to get what we owe them can leave us thinking we're hardened criminals. The oppressive debt leaves us...

I'm not a patient person.  Waiting and I don't get along well. Those who know me best would call  the point of those first two sentences the understatement of the millennium!  When I do demonstrate patience, it's owing to a work of God's Spirit, patently not a...