Blog
What I am about to share is not intended to create suspicion or fear. Those two things are a work of hell. I write to address a sad, but true reality. Some within the Church who claim to follow Jesus are tares planted within the harvest. To ignore such a possibility...
An acronym is used to define a process of rescue that helps first responders remain functional in their mission and give accurate lifesaving care when they arrive on the scene of a crisis. That acronym is “OODA” - Observe, Orientate, Decide, Act. OODA also has an...
I just drove some friends to the airport. It was an early 4:15 am drive that deposited them at the check in counter in time for their flight. Driving home, I had a sense the Lord is doing the same in the Spirit for some of you. He is moving you to a place where a...
Honor creates a supernatural environment. Without living in honor with all people, the Church can never rise into the fullness of her calling and see the miraculous transformation God has planned for the nations. Honor is a word that means, “to value someone or...
Almost thirty years ago I was sitting around a table with five other young and inexperienced pastors. We were in a small meeting room at Montana State University in Billings, Montana. Seated with us was Jerry Cook, the author of the tremendous book, "Love, Acceptance...
For years I taught people how to create mission statements for their lives and how to develop a vision along with a personal set of values. It was good, but I don't do that anymore. At first these vision planning sessions excited me. Then something changed. A hunger...
Yesterday, Jan and I went to see the movie Valkyrie. The movie was based on the true story surrounding the events of a failed assassination attempt on Hitler at the infamous Wolf's Liar. It was good cinema and Tom Cruise did a great job acting out his character. Many...
Places dedicated to prayer attract me. When I was a student at Multnomah in Portland, Oregon I enjoyed walking into the prayer chapel and sitting on the wooden pews. The chapel is as old as the campus. At one time someone proposed removing the old chapel to make way...
Last week I took a hike. Most of the time I like to hike alone so I can talk with God. My hike began in the historic mining town of Jacksonville that is located in southwestern Oregon. After walking across town I went through the pioneer cemetery and then linked up...
As I look out from my hotel room in Long Beach I see the great Queen Mary passenger ship docked across the harbor. She is visible through an urban forest of yacht masts, man-planted palm trees and large dock cranes. In the distance freighters inch across the horizon...
When God makes a promise there is always that space of time that exists between God speaking the promise to us and the promise becoming a reality. Sometimes that space of time is a moment and sometimes it can be a lifetime. How are we supposed to live in the “until...
As a kid, my dad would take me each month to one of those real old-time barbershops that had a revolving barber pole out front and a barber who smelled like hair cream and had a couple of long thin black combs poking up from within his breast shirt pocket. For the...
My father has been gone for over 20 years. Tonight, my thoughts linger around the memories I have of the last months of his life. When I was a nine year old boy I cried myself to sleep one night thinking that my father would die some day. I don't know why I thought of...
In our family, I grew up hunting and fishing. Each fall we would make a man-trek into the wilds to pursue deer. I loved the coming of fall. The preparation and plans for the annual hunt was something that occupied my boyhood thoughts from the start of hunting season...
My grandmother ran a beer and wine bar in San Francisco in the 1930's. Grandma didn't get into that business overnight. It was the result of a life of hard-nocks that started many years earlier when my grandfather left the house one day to find work and never came...