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…

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…

What did I do wrong? — I thought God was on my side! The Bible is full of support for the idea that God has our backs. As believers, we are told that He will never leave us, that He knows the number of hairs on our heads, that He will provide for our every need, and that He listens to our prayers. …

Haunted by life’s nightmares. — This is part three in an ongoing series. Part one: “A Call to Service.” Part two: “Growing Friendship, Showing Faith.” Tug sprang awake so quickly that he startled himself. The dream had been so real that he could still taste the alcohol in his mouth and smell smoke in the…

Was that really the voice of God speaking? — God instructs us to listen for His voice. Scripture is full of examples of God giving instruction to His people to heed his voice. The list of examples is exhausting, and I actually found a website with a list of “50 Bible verses about Listening to God”. …

How one man’s sharing faith with his new friend changed both of them forever — This is Part two in an ongoing series. For Part one, click here. It had now been about three months since Mark and Tug had first met. After Mark had spent some time over a meal with Tug and dropped him off at the local mission, a tug at his…