Blog
We have been asked to believe that protective backstops in all aspects of our society are in place to prevent injury. This belief has left some people trusting in backstops that have significant holes in their promise to protect and in some cases, are completely...
A shift is taking place in the Church that will create increasing levels of hope as the financial condition of nations descends deeper into expressions of failure and resulting despair. For the first time last week, I saw one quadrillion dollars in print,...
On Easter morning in 1958 at the end of the Sunday service at Calvary Baptist Church in Los Gatos, California, I walked down the aisle responding to the invitation offered by Dr. Blaine Bishop to receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I walked forward carrying a seed of...
As a boy, I listened any time an older person told a story. I loved hearing their stories. It was through these stories that I learned about life and came to appreciate the power of seeing something for the first time. My maternal grandmother was born in 1896....
When I became a father, God blessed me with a daughter and a son. We have prayed for each of our children since the day they were born. One of the great joys of being a father was to do special things with each of my children that would be specific to them...
I grew up in one of those wonderful little hometowns we nostalgically read about today that once dotted the landscape of 1950s America. My hometown was Campbell, California. The grade school I attended in Campbell was called San Tomas Elementary. I attended that...
In high school, I took an English class from a teacher named, Mr. Bobbitt. Mr. Bobbitt seemed “old” to me – he must have been about 50 when I was one of his students. In class, Mr. Bobbitt would never let us use the word, “good”, to describe anything. He...
My father was not a strict man. Not much bothered him. Maybe it was because he was 42 years old when I was born. I was the first of two boys born to my parents. In some ways, I was raised by parents who were the age of young grandparents. Over...
Growing up in the home of a self-employed contractor helped me see the seasonal nature of the construction business. Without fail, each approaching winter would put dad’s business on hold until the warm spring days returned along with new construction contracts....
As a boy, I enjoyed getting into my father’s Chevy pickup truck and driving into town. During these trips I would watch my father and learn about life. Most of these trips would involve a lunch where we sat at a counter on stools laughing and talking. On one of...
My father was a self-employed contractor. He was able to set the calendar of his life around the various building projects that came his way. When he had free time between these projects our family would take our vacations. I loved growing up in this lifestyle...
In October of 2006, I rented a room in a lodge along the Rogue River in Southern Oregon. I went there for a three-day prayer and study retreat. Each day I would hike along a graveled road high above the river. On one of these hikes, I spotted a smooth and...
I was raised in a blue-collar home. My father was a contractor who built houses. I remember working alongside my father at various construction sites in the warm summer sun of the Santa Clara Valley in California. In the years my father did this hard...
Recently in worship the Lord revealed an image to me. The image was of a person standing on a beach looking out to sea. There was a sense of longing on his face. The scene changed where I could now look out through his eyes at the developing image. Before me was...
Some Christians throw the word “heresy” around with reckless abandon. It appears in heated conversations over coffee. The word is used each time a revival takes place that confronts and shakes the existing religious establishment. It is used in the script of...