Blog
It would be a surprise to denominational leaders what some of their pastors believe and, in some cases, no longer believe. That same surprise would occur for local pastors regarding some of their staff members or for their congregants who assumed their friends...
Jan and I were invited to a conference where I was one of the speakers. The conference host put us up in a beautiful Airbnb with a swimming pool. After a long day of meetings, I wanted to unwind. I donned my swimsuit and grabbed a towel and headed to the pool. The...
When we are surrounded by the enemies of truth and it seems that evil alliances are ruling the day, it is too easy to forget our most important weapon in spiritual warfare – worship. Worship can become just another item on our spiritual checklist reducing worship to a...
Recently, I was reflecting on Luke 5 where Jesus calls Simon to follow Him after he and his friends had fished all night and caught nothing. As I read the text I thought of all who are now struggling with the implications of the global financial downturn and its...
Recently, the Lord downloaded something into my heart – “If you move the letter “i” in the word “trial” it becomes the word “trail.” Trials without the hope of their becoming trails can feel like desperate and discouraging seasons of life.Trials seem static if they...
Today, I helped my wife with something I really don't like to do - moving stuff. A friend donated a load of furniture for us to give away, so Jan and I planned to spend the morning unloading several shipping containers at a local storage facility. We are on vacation...
Today, I took my weekly prayer-hike in the mountains above our home. I love this scheduled appointment with the Lord. I come away refreshed and renewed each week. As I finished my hike, I stopped at a hillside concert area called, "The Britt". The Britt is positioned...
Recently, Jan was rearranging our library. She found a book I thought I had sent to the Foursquare Church headquarters in Los Angeles 15 years ago to archive in the Foursquare Heritage library. But here it was, unsent after all these years, containing a wonderful and...
In 1999 my wife and I returned to the United States after almost four years of ministry in Europe. When we got off the airplane all of our earthly belongings consisted of the bags we had just cleared through Customs and a single chair and some extra boxes of books...
On a recent trail hike I noticed a madrone tree branch above my head. I was so impressed by what I saw that I snapped a picture. The image of the twisted branch caught my attention because it had so obviously made a u-turn in its growth pattern. Like other tree...
"For all who have entered into God's rest, have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest." Hebrews 4: 10-11 When the word "rest" is used in most Christian teaching we are told that we all need a day...
Each life is like a photo album that contains snapshots of individual moments in time. No life is fully defined by a single image. We are made up of a composite of our experiences.One snapshot of time does not define our identity.Our identity is in a Person, not in a...
For those of you who like to read on a reading device, today Amazon released "Prayers from the Throne of God" on Kindle....
When I was a young pastor-in-training the church I was part of was Faith Center in Eugene, Oregon,. This wonderful church took a step of faith with me and let me try my hand at counseling people. I was so green and yet there I was - in a real office sitting across the...
I have a friend who is a really good artist. Kevin has created sculptures that are so life-like that they capture not only the posture of a person, but their very essence. Yesterday, Kevin brought me something. I was out of town so the gift was put in my office...