Blog
Forty-three years ago, Jan and I were two church planters living in Kalispell, Montana. We had just moved all our belongings and our two preschool kids in a U-Haul truck to a rental house. The house was out in the country in an open pasture. We felt alone and...
In the last few hours, news reports have declared that a war between Israel and Iran is imminent. Forces on both sides are now on a war footing and positioning their assets. As this conflict unfolds, we are about to witness a divine intervention. Israel, as...
The Lord fights our most strategic spiritual battles in ways human effort can't accomplish. It is simply a work of God. Elisha was living under the threat of death from the king of Israel. A famine in the land had become so great that a mother ate her son and the dung...
Empty chairs in a sanctuary are not always an indictment against a church or its leadership. Empty chairs can actually send a message to leadership that people are finding a meaningful church experience outside the walls of a passing model that no longer meets their...
On August 21 a solar eclipse will cross the United States from Oregon to the Carolinas. Darkness will cover the cities in its path for over 2 minutes. Viewing a map of the United States and the eclipse path it appears as if someone took a large marker pen and drew a...
Every marriage has little rituals. One of our rituals takes place every morning. Each day, I rise a few minutes before Jan to start the coffee and get set up in my writing chair. When Jan walks into the living room I stand and we hug. I usually kiss her on the neck...
In my 50th year, a friend invited me to climb the tallest mountain overlooking our region. Mount McLoughlin stands 9,499 feet. For the last almost 8,000 years it has held prominence in our area. Before that, it lived in the shadow of the volcanic peak known as Mount...
There are a few things that will elicit an emotional, gut-wrenching and sometimes sobbing joy in me. This happens when an unnoticed underdog rises to a place of freedom and victory before an audience of doubters. It can be a timid singer on a talent show stage who...
A few days ago someone made an honoring comment about me in reference to something I wrote. They did not direct the comment to me personally. The person was writing to the people who follow their ministry. I found out about the comment just because I stumbled across...
The image was a bit shocking. I saw someone walking across a stage. They were speaking to an audience. They were in the middle of making a presentation when all of a sudden the entire stage background and all the stage props crashed down around them. The performer...
My daughter, Anna, is an accomplished artist. Her art hangs in collections around the world. In the hallway of our home is one of Anna’s paintings. It's a Chagall-like image of a cat. The painting is professionally framed. As I walked by the painting today, I noticed...
Jan and I have been on the road for a few days speaking at a conference in one city then preaching in a church in yet another city. When we travel like this our hosts reserve a nice hotel room for us so we can be fresh and rested. We have stayed in a lot of different...
I had something hilarious happen today. A private message came to me on my Twitter account regarding a video I shared. The person asked me, “How do you stay centered and stable. How is it done?” Assuming they were talking about spiritual things, I said, “By...
When we pile on a perceived error the truth gets buried. This piling on can resemble a football game where the ball is in the hands of one of the players at the bottom of the heap. The officials referring the game must remove each person from the pile to find the...
Have you ever started to sing the opening lines of an old song but forget the rest of the lyrics? You sounded great singing the first few words then mumbled the remainder of the chorus hoping you might recall the lyrics. I just did that with an old 60’s song. As I was...