Blog
I remember the first time I heard what is called in police work a “mic check.” I heard my first mic check as a rookie cop still in the early stages of my training. A mic check happens when a cop picks up the microphone on their in-car radio and simply depresses the...
Some who follow Jesus can appear to die before their time. What is interpreted as an early death can be confusing to those left behind. There are other reasons for an early departure from this life. “Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no...
Fifty-three years ago, my wife, Jan, was a student at what was then known as Multnomah School of the Bible. We would eventually meet on campus when our paths crossed one day which led us to love and a life-long commitment to each other. One of Jan’s classes was...
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...
Each year between Thanksgiving and Christmas my father’s rifle, shotgun and binoculars would mysteriously disappear. I wasn’t aware of this annual disappearance until one day when I asked to use my dad’s binoculars. I was told, “There not here just yet.” I was a...
Whenever a spiritual crash takes place a debris field is left behind containing the evidence of what went wrong. When the crash of an airliner occurs, the NTSB arrives at the scene to collect evidence and find the black box hidden in the wreckage. Pieces of the...
Don’t require other people to be courageous if you are not willing to live in the same place of courage you are requiring of them. Step into your place of courage without demanding that others do the same. Once there live in such a way that your life becomes an...
When things are taken from us by death or through a painful circumstance of life, our first response can be to begin looking for a replacement. We want to fill our place of loss with someone or something. We think by filling the void with a replica we can make the...
As a small boy, I remember the day I asked my father why he had so many scars across his stomach and chest. At the time he gave me an age-appropriate answer. A few years later, I asked again and then he gave me the full story. My grandmother owned a business on Turk...
When I was a young cop, I was assigned to a unit with the acronym, OCCIS. The formal name was the Organized Crime and Criminal Information Section. It was a federally funded task force sourced from multiple police agencies in the Silicon Valley of California. We...
The fulfillment of a promise God made to you is about to arrive as a beautifully wrapped gift. You will be astonished to discover the wrapping and presentation of the promise will be as equally beautiful as the gift itself. When I was a kid growing up in the 1950’s...
For a few years as a cop, I was part of an Organized Crime unit. It was very different than working the street in uniform in a marked car. All of us had beards and long hair. We looked like outlaw bikers. One of the things we routinely did was to conduct stakeouts. TV...
One of the great hindrances to becoming a healthy leader is putting yourself in a place where you always have to “produce”. If you are in this kind of environment you need to make a change in your perspective and in some cases, your actual place of ministry. You don’t...
When the sound and content of your voice is in lock step with the groupthink of a political party, a church denomination or a particular segment of society, you will eventually lose your credibility and influence in the Kingdom of God. Real credibility and influence...
For the last few days I have been hearing the phrase, “Hot Combat”. Hot combat is what takes place on the frontlines in an actual shooting war. It is a bloody place where you either live or die. We need to be reminded of the reality of warfare. Not just the...