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Some believers are allowing the smallest requests of obedience from God to be ignored. Ignoring these acts of obedience will open doors that allow spirits of darkness to influence our lives. We would never believe those things would come, but they do. They begin to...
Each spring for the last 20 years, I have walked past a gulley near our home to see a small patch of daffodils. They have never become more than just a patch. The color of the bright yellow flowers pops against the green grass background of the gulley. The daffodils...
Many times, we think we need more experience or another degree to add to our name to gain the authority required to win a spiritual battle. The Lord is trying to convince us that if we have been faithful to God in the past in the small things, He will prove Himself...
Today, I saw the image of a large colorful bounce house. A bounce house is one of those inflatable rubber devices that are brought to life by a motorized air pump. Kids jump and bounce around in them at birthday parties. When I first saw the image, I simply thought it...
I remember the day when, as a 27 year-old undercover cop, I wanted to return to being a street cop with short hair, a visible uniform and a marked patrol unit. Something went down with a crooked cop that forced my hand. My partner and I exposed a criminal...
Growing up our family weekends were times of exploration. We were what some would call outdoorsmen. Hunting and fishing were our primary activities sprinkled with seasons of baseball and football. On one fall weekend my father took my brother and me out into the...
It was on this day, January 1, 1962, that one of the most meaningful days of my life took place. For Christmas week, our family was visiting my uncle’s ranch in McArthur, California. I loved driving to the end of Lewis Road and seeing the ranch each summer for hay...
Some of you feel like a satellite that has been faithfully orbiting a marriage, a business vision or a ministry calling, but you have lost communication with those who sent you on the mission. You feel lost in space. Some of you have given up hope because it has been...
For some of us who use blogs to store and transmit what we write, it is always interesting to see the audience source for our writing. One of the tools used to track readership are the graphs provided that track the number of reads that take place in a given day. Just...
I experienced two significant events 36 years apart that were strangely similar. In 1981, I turned in my badge as a police officer to step into the new role of pastor, a calling to which I had no understanding. Jan and I were rookie church planters traveling to a new...
Each morning, I sit down and ask God if there is something He wants me to write. It is never a challenge to find something to write. What is the challenge is finding something He wants me to write. This morning, I asked that familiar question once again. Immediately,...
Jan and I have experienced 43 Christmas mornings together. After the birth of our two children, we created a Christmas morning family routine that has become a tradition. Jan and I get up early for coffee and Jan’s homemade cinnamon roles, a recipe given to her...
I wonder what the meeting would have been like if Eve, the mother of all humanity, could have met pregnant Mary, the mother of Jesus. I can only imagine the flood of emotion that would overwhelm Eve as she remembered tasting the flavor of forbidden fruit and receiving...
I always thought it was strange how I see the year’s calendar in my mind. It resembles a roller coaster. This time of year is that part of the ride when the roller coaster car is slowly ticking its way up through the last few days of December to the apex of the...
As a kid growing up in church, I heard the following words repeated over the years, “The finished work of the Cross”. I often wondered what those words meant. I have now come to understand their meaning. Jesus went as far as possible in His obedience as the Second...