
A pension of death ...
Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master (Rom. 6:23, The Message). I haven’t told many people this—but the fact is … I’m dying. I have a terminal illness that will result in my death. The reason I haven’t told many people about my terminal condition is simply because everyone has the same illness. It’s called sin. I often talk with people, and when the subject of death comes up, I’ll


Being "teachable" makes success "reachable"
In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him (1 Sam. 18:14). “I got this!” can be a dangerous statement. Those three seemingly innocent words in our modern lexicon can quickly spell disaster. What this adrenal catchphrase implies is that “I’ve got everything under control” … until I DON’T! Just ask my eight-year-old son, John, who acts out those words in a dramatic fashion. It usually happens in the performance of an unrehearsed, YouTube-inspired s


The Answer is Within Reach
“When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much even more will be required” (Luke 12:48). Welcome to 2020. May this year generate changed lives and impact on this world. Today’s world is not the same place that many of us were born into during the 20th century. Many of us would declare that evil is winning the day. The world is stained with suicide, crime, drug abuse, homelessness, abortion, human trafficki


An Earthly Request with an Eternal Promise
“Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir”, they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” John 12:20-21 (NIV) As Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem during The Feast of The Passover, he was met by a huge crowd waving palm branch before Him as a conquering king returning from war. Though He entered Jerusalem riding on the back of a donkey, with twelve minim


I Never Dreamed
Ecclesiastes 3 starts this way, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under Heaven.” When Randy Barnett, a high school friend, invited me to his church to hear his youth choir sing back in 1973, I never dreamed at 17 years old that would be the beginning of my relationship with Jesus. When, in that same year, I asked Sheryl Rose, a fellow drummer in the high school band to go out with me, I never dreamed we’d eventually get married. There’s something