A confession – prior to my visit to the Northwest, I was in need of a break.  I was grouchy and discouraged.  (Joel Osteen would not have approved of my disposition).  It is amazing to me how much perspective plays a part of our well being.  And sometimes we need to pull away and unplug from the daily routine to find rest.  With intentional rest comes perspective.  If we violate Sabbath rest, something morphs in our soul. We start to get edgy and anxious.  The psalmist tells us, “It is in vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives...

After all this, God tested Abraham. God said, “Abraham!” “Yes?” answered Abraham. “I’m listening.” Genesis 22:1 (MSG) One of the paradoxes of life is that testing times are transforming times.  We don’t like them, we may even dread them, and we wish they would go away.  Yet without testing there is no transforming. I grew up in the Northwest surrounded by mountains. Many times I would sit by the streams and creeks that run down from the mountains. Those sights and sounds are etched in my mind. They are both stunning and inspiring. But take away those...

For the past six weekends we’ve been looking at a few Old Testament Characters.  Their lives revealed God is purposeful even when we cannot see it.  God uses ordinary people to accomplish his extra-ordinary plan in surprising ways. We’ve discovered that everyone of them was challenged and tested.  They learned the nature of temptation and perhaps also their own points of personal weakness; they discovered the faithfulness of God and His ability to keep them in the trial.  Of course they were exposed to this reality: There is no other way to know whether or not God keeps His promises than...

How do you live out the Gospel in life between the world that is and the world that is to come?  How do you live out the Gospel between Sunday morning and the following Saturday night? How do you live out the Gospel in life between cultural engagement and Christian distinction or between community in the market place and Christian community? The central challenge for Christ followers is embodied in Jesus’ commandment from Luke 10:27 (ESV):  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Two...

Several years ago, a good friend of mine was grieving the loss of his father.  It was a sudden death; the kind you don’t anticipate. He wasn’t sick or suffering from any type critical illness. One day, his dad was alive; the next, he was gone. My friend said to me, “I don’t feel I am ready to be the patriarch of the family.  But I am the only one left – so I guess it’s up to me now.” The Bible has a lot to say about fathers.  There is no way in which I want to address all of it. I would like to however focus on three verses:  Proverbs 3:11-13 (NIV) 11 My son, do not despise the...

While I am preparing my message on Samson for this coming Sunday, the significance of grace keeps floating to the surface. The story of Samson’s lapse of judgment is a tragedy of the first order.  From beginning to end there’s not much to applaud. From the beginning God gave Samson everything he needed to succeed in his God given purpose.  He was to lead and deliver Israel from the Philistines.  Though he did not fulfill that purpose God’s grace overruled his lifetime of regret. Most of us will never have the opportunity to perform a heroic act at the end of our life, but all of us will...

Today I attended the memorial service of James Hill. He was 82 years old. Pastor Greg Youmans lead the service in a way that made each one there feel like they new James personally.  What moved me the most was a tribute by his grandson Matthew.  You could tell Matthew and James had a special bond. Following the service I got in my car to drive back to the church.  While driving back Iwas listening to a CD my son had just given me.  “Overflow” by Tommy Walker.  The song “Find Me Faithful” overwhelmed me to the point I had to pull the car over.  The message of the...

If I am fully prepared, a test is not a frightful experience for me. Then again, if I’ve not studied, I might panic a bit. Life is fertile soil for testing.  The Old Testament character, Job, faced a challenging test; a test for which he was not fully prepared. The test: “If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling!” Job 23:3 (NIV) Job confesses that he is bitter and powerless before a God who seems to be in hiding while Job is suffering. C.S. Lewis, while grieving the loss of his wife, wrote in A Grief Observed: “When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense...

Someone asked me the other day, “What do you read and listen to?”  So I thought maybe others would like to know.  Well… if you did or didn’t, the following  answers questions you might not of asked but  want to know anyway. Current Reading: De-Railed, Tim Irwin, Ph.D. Everyone Communicates Few Connects ,  John Maxwell Jesus Mean and Wild: The Unexpected Love of an Untamable God, Mark Galli Leadership Beyond Reason, Dr. John Townsend Leading on Empty: Refilling Your Tank and Renewing Your Passion,Wayne Cordeiro Making Room For Leadership, MaryKate Morse Missional Map-making...

This came across my desk the other day. I thought it was hilarious. 10. To be able to eat a whole candy bar (alone) and drink a Coke without any “floaters.” 9. To have a 14-year-old answer a question without rolling her eyes in that “Why is this person my mother?” way. 8. Five pounds of chocolate that won’t add twenty. 7. A shower without a child peeking through the curtain with a “Hi ya, Mom!” just as I put razor to my ankle. 6. A full-time cleaning person who looks like Brad Pitt. 5. For a teenager to announce, “Hey, Mom! I got a full scholarship...