Blog
In southern Oregon, the smoke from several large fires burning in northern California has filled our valley. The smoke has created hazardous conditions for people’s health. It is so bad we are being advised to remain indoors with the windows closed. A report was just...
When I worked as a homicide detective one of the most unpleasant of all my duties was attending an autopsy. It is a brutal but necessary procedure to discover the cause of a person’s death. What was once a living and breathing human being with hopes and dreams was...
I’m noticing an increasing number of people are losing the strength of their original faith – a faith once vibrant and filled with hope. They don’t have enough belief left to power their faith or take a step of obedience because they feel disconnected and...
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...
It is about to heat up. There are two kinds of heat coming. Heat from the religious establishment and heat from the fire of God. The religious establishment binds people up. Their heat is used to silence and discredit anyone who tries to remove their...
This week, I recorded a thought on my Twitter feed: “A healthy prophetic word will include an element of self-indictment.” The day after I shared that sentence, I was reading in Ezekiel and came across verse ten in chapter three,“Son of man, let all my words sink deep...
I have lived long enough to see a few trends develop in the Church. Some of the trends were healthy and others have caused me a bit of concern. As a young boy my religious heritage included time in the Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist traditions. I got...