Blog
There is a reason why the Church should never allow the defiance we see taking place against God to derail our faith. The Lord is creating something with that defiance. The psalmist describes how God will disable the weapons of spiritual warfare by destroying the...
Yesterday, I met with a young pastor who leads a local congregation. If one studied our conversation they would discover a single and repeated thread in our time together – the faithfulness of God. I was reminded of something the psalmist said, “O God, you have taught...
This is a quick video about an important decision we all need to make to prepare us for what is coming. https://www.facebook.com/garris.elkins/videos/816902300292362
The context of your life is never more powerful than the content of the promises contained in God’s Word. Your context may be filled with pain and sorrow or a paralyzing fear about your future. These can be overwhelming things to experience but they never have...
When Jan and I lived in Europe, we visited a cathedral that was uniquely constructed. The interior of the sanctuary had a smooth, rounded ceiling. The tour guide said a whisper softly spoken in one corner would rise and follow the curvature of the ceiling and be...
If you are a street cop, every so often you will have a pursuit. You attempt to pull over a car for a minor traffic violation and someone decides to run. The drivers can range from being a dumb kid in his parent’s car to a full-blown felon on the run. One evening...
I do a bit of writing each day. I was a late starter, age 58 in fact. That was seven books and a thousand blog articles ago. In the process of that endeavor, I have learned a few things. If you are a person who desires to write, here are a few suggestions: 1. ...
I heard the phrase “Time Horizon” used on a radio talk show as I was driving north on Interstate 5 passing through Salem, Oregon. I made a mental note to return to the phrase to unpack its meaning and explore why the Lord used it to gain my attention. Investors use...
I was sitting in front of my computer in a hotel room writing and listening to a random YouTube selection of music from the 60’s, when the classic Paul Simon song, The Sounds of Silence, began to play. Toward the end of the song, one line in the lyrics caught my...
This week, I was driving between meetings in Oregon. Just before checking into my hotel, I filled up my car in anticipation of a morning departure. Oregon is a state where you are not allowed to pump your own gas. When I pulled into the station the attendant came to...
There are times when a fresh revelation comes not by changing the substance of the message but by simply changing the way a message is delivered. This is not a neurotic attempt to always be hip or relevant. Neither is it living imprisoned in the assumptions...
Like clockwork, I awake most mornings at 4:00 a.m. without an alarm. A few days ago as I stirred awake, I heard the call of an owl. In the 15 years that Jan and I have lived in our home we have not heard an owl - ever. That is a unique fact considering that...
If you have something of value to say, it will be repeated somewhere by someone who will fail to give you credit for being the original author of the thought. A few years ago, this began to happen to me on a regular basis. Someone would use a phrase I coined or a...
During World War II, my uncle Dan served in the Army. He carried a Thompson submachine gun and was on the front end of some of the major campaigns in the Pacific. I remember as a kid cutting weeds on his ranch in McArthur, California with a Japanese officer’s sword he...
Six principles for private conversation and public discourse: ...