While it may be impossible for anyone under age 25 to comprehend, once upon a time there was no Internet. The phrase, “I’ll just buy it online” would have been as nonsensical as “I’ll just buy it on triangle.” Today’s tech savvy kids send their parents an email, complete with hyperlinks to websites with the lowest […]

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 […]

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 […]

My favorite time of year here in the Phoenix valley is anytime my roses are blooming. Like right now. My back yard is awash in red, orange, white, lavender, pink, yellow, coral, and peach. The hummingbirds swoop in to check them out before moving to the front yard where they prefer the trumpet shaped blooms […]

 
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 […]

Years ago my friend Glen, a cowboy who’d rather be horseback riding and team roping than doing anything else, summarized the inherent problem of not taking life one day at a time as only he could do.
“When ya’ got one foot in yesterday and the other foot in tomorrow, yer’ pissin’ all over today.”
Cowboy vernacular […]

“Don’t worry.”
Easy to say. Hard to do.
Hard to do because life is hard. When we’re consumed with worry, we’re not living the kind of life God desires for us.
In Matthew 6:25-34 Jesus explains why worry isn’t in our best interest and why God can be trusted to take care of every detail of our lives.
(Presented to Hope Covenant Church - […]

“So I’m not four anymore?”
“No, Annie. You’re five now. Happy Birthday!”
For weeks Annie and Emma have been talking about how they would soon be five years old. Now that the day is here, they seem a tiny bit wistful pondering that being five means they are no longer four. I understand that. We look forward […]

Do you ever find yourself so busy that you can’t keep track of everything on your schedule? Have you ever said to yourself or to someone around you, “I just don’t have time to think about that right now!”?
Sometimes we get so involved and over-committed that we forget things. Forgetting to pick up your shirts […]

Have you ever been to a carnival and seen a “guess how many are in the jar and win a prize” contest? The jar could have anything in it. Maybe pennies, or marbles, or if you’re at a county fair in the Midwest it might be a jar of shelled corn or soybeans. Everyone writes […]

While walking across the open first level of the Luhr’s Parking garage in downtown Phoenix, I spotted him across the street. A bedraggled, scruffy, gray bearded guy in a dirty blue jacket pushing himself backward down the sidewalk in a wheelchair.
Panhandlers are fairly common around America West Arena, especially late at night after events. Usually […]

The storms of life are constant. You’re likely in the middle of one right now.
Maybe your work is going smoothly but there’s rough waters with your kids. Maybe it’s calm waters at home but your job is threatening to swamp your canoe. Maybe home and career are floating along but inside your heart and soul […]

 
The New Year. Our good intentions are at their peak in January. Yet there’s no magic in the turning of a calendar page. The challenge of a New Year is that we bring our old self into it. So how do we make a fresh start?
God is a gracious God. A God of “do overs”. […]

For the past few years I’ve worked a part-time job at the Team Shop in America West Arena. It’s where the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and the Arena Football League’s Arizona Rattlers play. Like airports, it’s a venue that allows one to observe all sorts of human behavior and interaction. Anytime there are 10,000 plus people […]

“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 […]

What will your kids be looking at in the picture albums when they become adults?
Children learn what they live. What kind of environment are we creating for our children? What are we doing to help them develop a sense of identity and place? How do we teach our kids about God and His faithfulness?
Joshua 4 […]

“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 […]

“Can you hold a second, please? Someone is beeping in.”
We phrase it in the form of a question, but we aren’t asking. We’re telling. I silently wondered how he would respond if I said, “No, I can’t hold. “
“I’m back. Sorry. That was my wife again.” His wife had beeped in four times during a […]

It was July of 1989. En route to Milwaukee for a business meeting I decided to take a few extra days to visit old acquaintances along the way. While in Chicago I had opportunity to spend time with some dear college friends. On Friday evening we met for dinner at Timone’s, an authentic old neighborhood […]

It was the kind of Saturday Iowa kids look forward to from January on. A sunny, windy, “Mom said wear a jacket but I’m pretending I didn’t hear that” Saturday. After months of being parka-wrapped like a polar mummy, 60 degrees is the glorious after-life. A thawing, muddy nirvana whose only recollections of the former […]

“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 […]

We’re almost through the first quarter of 2002. How’s your year going? Is everything unfolding according to your plans? Or have unexpected events caused you to make adjustments?
During the first week of 1996 Sara and I were in Iowa visiting my family. One afternoon I sat looking out the window at the snow while blue […]