As I was preparing to teach a class on the concept of a Christian leader not being “self-willed” (Titus 1:7), it occurred to me, having grown up as a preacher’s kid, and now being a preacher myself, that I could recall numerous occasions when churches had been fractured and split because of self-willed leaders. In [...]

Paul writes to the Ephesian Christians, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord… Servants, be obedient to your masters… as to the Lord.” The phrase, “as unto the Lord” is a key to Christian perspective of life. It takes our attitude about our role in life to a new and higher [...]

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a [...]

Tuesday, October 3, 2006, John Mather and George Smoot were awarded the Nobel Prize for physics for what some scientists have heralded as “the greatest discovery of the century, if not of all time.” They claim to have found the ultimate proof of the Big Bang theory of the universe’s origins by discovering faint variations [...]

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator and I immediately wanted to paint another one. When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you feed a stray cat and I learned that it was good to be kind to animals. When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw [...]

It has become the ultimate word to denote an ignorant, narrow minded, religious bigot. Words are incredibly powerful. Words are the vehicles through which ideas, concepts and values are delivered. If you say it often enough, from a broad enough platform, with enough “respectable” voices…. it will become acceptable. Soon, it will become respectable.For a [...]

Paul loved the church in Ephesus… and they loved him. They prayed and cried together when they came to the beach to see his ship off to Jerusalem, knowing this would be the last time they would see him. Now, very likely from a jail cell, Paul writes back to his friends- his spiritual family- [...]

Have you ever been so overwhelmed that you don’t know what to say? That’s what Janis and I are feeling now. I’m not talking about being overwhelmed because of the moving and all the boxes… even though that is a bit daunting. (As of this writing, the downstairs boxes are gone! I’m pretty impressed with [...]