I pray that I have used it well — Today I turned sixty. To put things in perspective, the current life expectancy in the United States as of this writing is just shy of seventy-nine years old. Curiously, for some reason, in Kansas, where I live, it is a few months shorter than average but I don’t plan on…

How God’s grace surpasses any gift we could ever envision — I recently wrote a piece on the mercy of God entitled Not Getting Everything You Deserve. In it, we found that mercy, or not receiving justified punishment, keeps us from being condemned to Hell. Today I want us to look at a different component of this equation that was touched…

Nobody ever wants to feel guilty; but does it serve a purpose? — What is guilt? To simply define it, guilt is both a cognitive and an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes that he or she has violated a moral standard and is responsible for that violation. In essence, it is the knowledge, or at least the belief, that a person has done…

I doubt it — There is a story about a king who, knowing that he was close to death and realizing that his son succeed him soon, considered how he would leave behind a legacy that would not only be remembered but could be replicated and help the people of the land prosper. He…

Tug is reminded of a blessing that he thought was long gone — This is Part 4 in a series. For Part 3, click here. To begin the series, click here. Unexpected visitor! Ten o’clock on a Saturday morning was generally rather quiet for Tug, although his roommates were up and about. …

Have you allowed Him to be the Lord of your life? — Why the sacrifice had to be Jesus The Bible opens with God’s perfect story of creation. His was a pure and unblemished design. We will never fully know or understand God’s foreknowledge of man’s decision to sin, but we do know that once it happened, the die was cast; it would take the shedding of blood to…

Why does God take so long to answer some prayers? — Why does God take so long? Let’s face it. We are an impatient lot. Technology over the past few decades has made us even more that way. Why does a microwave take three minutes to heat up a meal? Why do eyeglasses take an entire hour to make? …

An attempt to offset the hate. — The events of today are unfortunately nothing new! Armed conflicts or wars have been a part of life (and death) since the earliest times of history. The first recorded war in the Bible, for example, is in Genesis 14, which would have been circa 1900 BC, and people have been fighting ever since. When Russia invaded Ukraine in…

It’s more than you could ever hope for. — Committing a distasteful act. The bile in the back of Jesse Carter’s throat came all the way up into his mouth as he walked through the stench of the street. It wasn’t just the unwashed bodies, horse dung, and stale alcohol. It wasn’t the vomit from the drunks in the alley either. No, it…