WORKING OUT PEACE The anxiety you feel right now is an opportunity for God to show you how His peace, that is already in you through His Holy Spirit as His child, can still come out of you and overcome the anxiety in you. His presence of peace in you is greater than the anxiety coming from the circumstances around you. Certainly ask God to change your circumstances, but my experience is, God wants to often times teach me... Read more
COURAGEOUS THOUGH NOT IN CONTROL God has chosen all of us to live a crazy calling Do you ever get tired of living in the ambiguity of your faith? Sometimes I just wish someone would answer my question, did I win or did I lose? You ask yourself this question, you ask others, you ask God. You then pause in silence to hear the answer. And what do you hear? Silence. And what do you conclude?... Read more
COURAGEOUS GRACE LIVED OUT IN RELATIONSHIPS God has almost seven billion children right now on planet earth. And God wants to use you through His grace to change this world. Where do you start? Or better yet, where do you continue? Do you have someone in your life you are tempted to give up on? Have they caused you a lot of pain and sorrow from their sinful choices and you feel like giving up on... Read more
COURAGEOUS TRUST IN GOD’S PROMISES Every person has a story. Every person has brokenness in their lives. We must courageously trust Christ and tell our stories of how God fulfilled His promises in our lives and restored what was broken in our lives. Jeremiah the Prophet taught God’s people in his day to do just that. He showed them how to courageously trust in God’s promises to restore what was broken in their lives. You and I can follow... Read more
CHURCH LEADERSHIP’S HANDLING OF SEX ABUSE VICTIMS: “IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR” The ending of silencing and shaming of sex abuse victims in the church gained a great victory recently through the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee. As the Senior Pastor of a Southern Baptist Church in Colorado Springs for the past almost twenty-five years, I am extremely proud of the Southern Baptist Executive committee for voting 44 to 31 to remove the exclusivity... Read more
“Let’s Roll”: REMEMBERING 9/11 AND SPIRITUAL PTSD Perpetual questioning of a negative situation triggers pervasive anxiety All of us are searching for something in our present to help us make sense of our past. Wishing something had never happened doesn’t solve the puzzle but perpetuates the darkness to become pervasive. On the world stage in 2002 our nation was at war in Iraq and Afghanistan searching for the allusive Osama Bin Laden. Back home in my day... Read more
THE EFFECTS OF UNCONFESSED SIN ON A HEART FOR GOD Do you remember the first time you lied and got away with it? I do. I was in first grade. And thus began my life of crime, lying when it benefited me! All of us are tempted to lie from time to time about our sin. When we are younger it is lesser offenses, when we are older it becomes more severe. One of the worst things... Read more
How Not To Be A Discouragement To Others Sometimes I get discouraged. How about you? When I get discouraged, sometimes, I become a discouragement to others around me. It is one thing to be discouraged. It is an entirely different thing to be a discouragement to others. But I find that my discouragement often times spills over into the lives of others and my discouragement becomes their discouragement. I lose sight of what matters, and I become... Read more
IS LAUREN DAIGLE AND HER MUSIC CHRISTIAN? As a pastor, I am most confused by Lauren Daigle and her music. Is she a Christian artist or is she not? She started off as a Christian artist and wrote beautiful songs that brought and bring glory to Jesus. You Say is one of my most favorite Christian songs. Then she declared herself not a Christian artist and says she is not sure what God thinks about... Read more
A KIND HEART FOR OUR ENEMIES It is not a sin to have enemies. Jesus had enemies. But it is a sin not to extend kindness to our enemies. Jesus said, “Love your enemies.” King David, a man after God’s own heart, had enemies too. He was a warrior for God and yet he had a softer side to him. David tries to show compassion to his adversaries. Some are willing to receive it,... Read more
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