Blog
As believers, we have lived for years with great freedom of expression. That freedom was not challenged in a way that caused any measure of harm. At most, it was only criticized in conversations and debates. With the death of Charlie Kirk, we received an intense and...
There are some relationships where it becomes necessary to create distance in the relationship, no longer listening to someone's comments, and allowing their misunderstanding to affect us. Creating that distance will open the door for the Spirit to begin to work on...
There are times when we can doubt a miraculous intervention has taken place and try to explain it away as just a circumstance. God is faithful to do what is needed to confirm His word if we do not dismiss the elements that will lead us to the place of His...
Once, when I was pastoring, a woman I knew in our church made an appointment to see me. On the day of our appointment, my secretary led her back to my office. She didn’t say anything as she walked through the door and sat down. The woman looked directly at me and...
On a walk last week, I saw a group of turkeys sitting on a fence. It got me thinking about how we can become so afraid of offending someone that we shy away from expressing the truth, especially about hot-button social issues. To a passerby who wants to see a...
As summer winds down, I’m thinking of the summer of 1973. It was a special time. On Mother’s Day, I proposed to Jan, and we set the date of our marriage three months later. That summer was carefree and filled with expectations of a new life and a new future...
Where I live in southern Oregon, our valley is filled with smoke from massive forest fires. For days we have endured deteriorating air quality now defined as hazardous. Because the sun has been reduced to an apocalyptic orange glow, it caused me to ponder the words of...
New mandates are being proposed. While choices were made the first time the mandates were instituted, choices based on the available evidence we had at the time, this time around will be different. Local congregations, business owners, and their customers have become...
My wife, Jan, has said on several occasions, "A boomerang of evil is returning." What has been sent out into our world of delusion and deception demanding we agree and comply with its message will return and strike the architects of its message. We are entering a...
Because of time and distance from historic events, we tend to sanitize our interpretation of what happened. The massive sacrifices that took place in the Old Testament are such events. They were a bloody mess. During the temple dedication, Solomon had 22,000...
Only those who know the joy of Huy Fong Sriracha sauce will understand the agony of an empty bottle. It’s like a spicy manna from Heaven. For the last year, it has been out of production awaiting the arrival of its special peppers to begin the production of its...
We all walk through life in a bubble. We define reality by what we see taking place within our limited personal understanding. When our bubble finally pops, it will reveal a much larger world we did not know existed. The puncture of our bubble of assumptions takes...
This morning while reading the word, an image appeared in my spirit of a hand reaching over a fence and dropping a note. The fence separated the present from the future. The note was a promise from God assigned to a time and place of future fulfillment. The fence...
When your daughter honors her parents on their 50th anniversary. It messes with one's emotions. https://www.facebook.com/1442665059/videos/2707469992737958/
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...