If someone gave you a ticket to spend a day anywhere in the United States, where would you go?
I’d be on a plane to Chicago before you could say “deep dish pizza”.
Several years ago I had opportunity to attend a preaching/teaching conference at Willow Creek Church with my friend and pastor Duane Cross. When it […]

Years ago my good friend Fred told me about a delightful conversation he had with his then 3-year old grandson, Nathan. Nathan was just about to have another birthday.
“Grandpa, I don’t want to be 4. I want to stay 3.”
“Why is that?”
“Because after you turn 4, then you turn 5.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Because when you turn […]

Some lessons we learn the hard way. 
When I was a kid, we would spend Christmas with my cousins in Ozona, Texas. My Uncle John was U.S. Border Patrolman there. Ozona, maybe about 3,000 people, is the only town in Crockett County, a county that’s the same size as Delaware.  
Partly because of his line of work, partly because […]

I don’t know why I ever decided to keep it. It makes me mad every time I look at it.
The cover of the Sports Illustrated from 1975 says, “Cowboys Win A Shocker”. The Minnesota Vikings had the playoff game in the bag. Roger Staubach and the Cowboys were down and time was running out. On a desperation play […]

Before there was a beginning, there was God.
Before there was a universe with galaxies and black holes and white hot stars, there was God.
God filled this nothingness and there was no void, because God is all God needs. He is complete in and of Himself. He is in the best sense of the word completely […]

Take an evening stroll around the neighborhood this month and you’ll see a variety of nativity sets. Some are wood. Some are cardboard cut outs. Some are hollow painted plastic with light bulbs inside. Wherever you live, nativity sets all have the same figures. Mary and Joseph. Shepherds and wise men. Some animals. And of […]

Hope Covenant, my home church, is in Chandler, Arizona. Like the other towns in the Phoenix valley, it began as a small farming town that over the decades morphed into an urban area. About 3 million people live in the metro area known as the “Valley of the Sun”. Vestiges of the former agricultural existence […]

Anyone you know that’s not acting like themselves this week? Someone who doesn’t seem like they’re on top of their game?
They say, “What you see is what you get.” Rarely is that true when it comes to people. For most of us, life is like an iceberg. The bulk of what’s there is below the […]

We all get lost from time to time. Sometimes it just happens. Sometimes we wander off. Like a sheep that’s had his head down seeing nothing but the grass in front of his nose, when he pulls up to look around realizes nothing is familiar.
Maybe you’re lost right now. Maybe you’re far away from home. The questions […]

Each of us have been shaped by our backgrounds. Some of us grew up in church. Some of us didn’t. Some of us went for awhile but stopped because we had a bad experience or because we didn’t like what we heard. Some of us grew up in a home where God was shoved down […]

 
It’s dry in the desert. That’s why they call it a desert. On a good year, the Phoenix valley receives only 7″ of rain. This hasn’t been a good year. Until God turned on the faucet last Saturday, it had been 143 days in a row with no rain. The last time water fell from […]

We live in a performance based society. GPA. ERA. SAT scores. Sales figures. MPG. Batting averages. Won/Loss columns. S&P 500. P&L statements. We measure everything.
It’s easy to carry that performance mentality into our relationship with God. But what if our best efforts could never be enough?
The essential, invaluable lesson of “imputed worth”.
(Presented to Hope Covenant Church - […]

“Daddy, I haffa tell you somthin’.”
“What is it, Emma?”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too, Emma. More than you know.”
“Daddy, you my best fwend!”
“You’re my best friend, too, Emma.”
“But you my best fwend first.”
I started to disagree, but left her with a big hug and a kiss on the head instead. It’s tough to debate a […]

“Excuse me…could I get a drink of water?”
She must have asked the question at least three times but I didn’t hear her over the spray of the garden hose. It was a Saturday afternoon during my last year of seminary. I was washing my truck in the driveway and a couple of stubborn tar spots […]