In a letter written some 20 years ago to a group of our close college friends, Bill Swart (Now Dr. Bill Swart of Augustana College, South Dakota) eloquently and profoundly describes the paradox of the Christian life.
“It was the evening of February 3 and I had spent the past 36 hours or so traveling from [...]

The story you are about to read is true. The names have been changed because who you are in grade school isn’t necessarily indicative of how you’ll turn out as an adult.
For a short time as a first grader in Edith Johnson’s class, I sat next to Billy. Rather, Billy sat next to me. He’d [...]

“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” According to the Gospel of Luke, these are the first words spoken by Jesus while on the cross.
For the Roman soldiers walking the perimeter, it’s all in a day’s work. Some people push pencils and keep records for a living. Others sell groceries in the [...]

Funny thing about God. When you ask Him for opportunities to be a blessing, He gives them to you.
The trick, at least for me, is learning to hear His voice. To see what He’s pointing at. Or feel His poke on the shoulder.
At Turning Point Church we’ve been challenged as individuals to find ways both [...]

Have you noticed all the quizzes on Facebook lately?
What Star Wars character are you?
Where in the world should you be living?
What historical figure are you?
What Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Flavor are you?
What are you born to do?
What is your Smurf name?
Which Peanuts character are you?
Which Superhero are you?
What color are you?
I wonder…do these quizzes [...]

Have you resigned yourself that your dreams will never come true?
That those impossible circumstances you’re facing will never be resolved?
Are you settling for what you see?
Or are you trusting God for what you can’t see?
When Abraham answered the phone, God was on the line. “Abraham, I want you to move out of town. I want [...]

Are you staring down an impossible circumstance?
Have you dreamed and hoped for something for so long that your soul is running on fumes?
Does it seem like God is not taking your calls?
They were by all accounts an extremely successful couple. Well respected in their community and at the top of everyone’s dinner guest list. Abraham [...]

One of my seminary professors, Dr. Steve Tracy, earned his doctorate at the University of Sheffield in England. For part of his degree program he relocated his family to the UK.
When Thanksgiving rolled around, they had been there for some time. Long enough to be missing home and family in the United States. They thought [...]

They say Chicago has two seasons: winter and road construction. In Phoenix, unless you count the 20 minutes in January where you put on a sweater, there is no winter. Which means that in the Valley of the Sun, orange pylons, barricades and flashing yellow lights are always in season.
One wouldn’t think opening a new stretch [...]

It’s Friday afternoon around 5:00 PM. “We’ll be back tomorrow. I’m going to wear my purple dress.” In her good-bye to the nurses at Vista Care, Emma informs Annie and me of her plans for our Saturday morning.
Way back when, it was Emma’s idea to come here for the first time. We were replacing the [...]

Have you ever been deeply wounded by another person?
Have you ever been deeply wounded by another person who, with deliberate action and malice aforethought, hurt you on purpose?
Have you waited for justice to be served?
And waited some more?
Are you still waiting?
(Maddening, isn’t it?)
In our broken world, wounds come in three ways. Sometimes people wound us [...]

December 31, 2008.
I wish I had a dollar for every person in the country who today says, “That’s it. Tonight’s my last night to eat. Tomorrow I start the diet.” I’d have enough money to open my personal health spa, complete with a fitness goon squad that would administer a beat down if I so [...]

It was around Halloween when I noticed it. Near my kids’ elementary school on the corner of 17th and Toledo Streets someone had put a pumpkin on top of a stop sign.
Even if you’re not normally aware of your surroundings, your brain takes note of things like a pumpkin on a stop sign.
It stayed there longer than I [...]

It was a glorious summer day in late July 1978. I had spent the better part of an afternoon water skiing with my high school friends, Clair, Steve, Lori, and Kristi. A quintessential day for skiing, the water on Iowa Lake was calm, quiet and smooth as glass.
When the sun began to slip behind the trees lining the [...]

Poke around the shady groves of farms in the Midwest and you’ll find them. Tucked behind the barn or under a tree, monuments to decades of hard work and sweat. Added to and rarely subtracted from.
Rock piles.
Depending on the lay of the farmer’s land, before planting crops it’s sometimes necessary to harvest rock. The freezing of winter and the thawing [...]

February 22, 1994. Mesa, Arizona.
I’m running late.
I hate to be late. I’d rather be everywhere early. Except for maybe a dentist appointment. But other than that, just get me there early so I can stand in line and wait and relax knowing that at least I’m not late.
But this day I’m late. I left the driveway [...]

It happened to me twice last week.
Both times completely unexpected.
One from a friend. One from a total stranger.
Both times brought tears to my eyes.
Handwritten notes of appreciation and encouragement.
When is the last time you were on the receiving end of genuine encouragement? Isn’t it a wonderful mix of good feelings? Someone noticed. Someone cares. Someone took time to say [...]

I did a Google search on the word “peace”. Guess how many entries?
432,000,000.
As in million. Lots of groups out there wanting peace.
There are the predictable, like the Peace Corps, Greenpeace and Peace for the Middle East. But there are some rather unique groups as well. There’s “Poetry for Peace”, perhaps bringing tranquility to the world through dynamic [...]

At the suggestion of my friend, website designer and all-around good guy Adrian, I recently joined Facebook. It’s been fun to reconnect with people that I’ve known from my years in Iowa, Arizona and now Texas.
One email came from VJ, a good friend with whom I was on staff at First Baptist Church-Tempe during my seminary days. VJ says, in part…  
“My dear [...]

Every house has at least one. 
The “junk drawer”.
Most often found in the kitchen, it usually barely opens. Pull it out five inches and a ruler or a tire pressure gauge or a plastic thingy from some forgotten project gets stuck cross ways and you have to jiggle the drawer back and forth.
Why the plastic thingy is there, you [...]

It’s a promise to myself I hope I can keep.
I’ll never live in a house that’s part of a homeowner association.
I was talking with someone the other day who said they got a letter from their HOA asking them to “move the blue chair off your front yard”.
How relieved I was to know there are [...]

Last Saturday I took Annie and Emma to their school’s Fall Festival. A fund raising event by the local PTA, it was a fun four hours of games, candy, hot dogs and Sno Cones. The students’ favorite booth was, “Pie In The Eye”. For just a few tickets they could throw a whipped cream pie in their [...]

“Daddy, I have a question.”
I hear this often from my daughters. 2nd grader’s this year, they love learning. I wonder what her question is this time? What’s 16 + 16? How to spell “clock”? Or maybe something regarding a favorite place, like “When are we going to Krispy Kreme again?”
“Sure, Emma, what’s your question?”
“Do penguins toot?”
In [...]

It was the most honest prayer request I’ve ever heard voiced in a church service.
Marcelle and Oscar were a wonderful elderly couple in my church back in Chandler, Arizona. Their story was storybook. They met and married overseas during the war. She was a singer and performer in the USO, entertaining the troops and sharing the stage with people [...]

Last week I had a three hour layover at the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport. After a lunch, perusing the bookstores and a couple rides around on the tram, there was nothing to do but walk around. In Terminal E I noticed a small room designated as an airport chapel. A place for travelers to stop and think and pray.
Just inside [...]