My mother lives in assisted living nearby in a facility that also has a section for memory care residents. We also have memory care residents just across our church parking lot next door, folks who our Sunday school kids visit on a monthly basis. Memory care issues are pure frustration both for...
I recently heard a challenging thought: American evangelicals are worried about prosperity. Many evangelicals overseas are worried about poverty. These are broad generalizations, but when you look at the aggregate, it's far, far more true than we care to admit. We are blessed with relative...
I was at a luncheon this week attended by local businessmen who desire to integrate their faith and their work. (It's a regular luncheon provided by CMBC, a Christian men's group.) One of the men present said what I feel increasingly each year, "I just don't have the Christmas spirit this year."...
I admire the hospice workers and chaplain who have served my family through my father's terminal illness. Amazing people doing amazing work with excellence, patience, and compassion. They've been through the process dozens of times, but we hadn't, and yet they never acted like it was just...
I'm going to step onto thin ice, here. Please take care to see what I actually do and don't say, without inserting someone else's words into my own. I will try to parse my words carefully. I'm watching this controversy about immigrant children being separated from their parents. But...
Fasting and Sabbath - two habits from the Old Testament that we try really hard to ignore exist prominently in the New Testament. Fasting: Abstaining from a normal staple of life (most often food, if medically safe) for a long enough period to feel its absence, in order to 1) use the...
If you're reading with us in our reading plan for 2018 (Walk Through the Bible 365, found on YouVersion at https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/2129-walk-with-god-for-35-days), we read through Psalm 2 this week. It's a great Psalm even in our own time and situation. The psalm begins by...
Jesus would not vote the way you did. I'm sure of it. And I don't even know how you voted. Let's just assume for the sake of argument that if Jesus was living in our country in our time and that He would, in fact, go to the polling station on election day. And He wouldn't vote the way you...
People are falling. Some people I have agreed with and some people I have disagreed with (but disagree with completely when they violate others). It seems that every day or so, there's a new, well-known person who's losing their job over abusing people. Correction: People have fallen. We are...
With every tragedy, the same cycle replays, but with increasing intensity each iteration: Tragedy hits. Some people declare, "I'm praying for the people in _______." Other people counter with, "Your prayers aren't working! It's time for _______." That last blank is always filled with...