Acrid bitterness inevitably seeps into the lives of people who harbor grudges and suppress anger, and bitterness is always a poison. It keeps your pain alive instead of letting you deal with it and get beyond it. Bitterness sentences you to relive the hurt over and over. –Lee Strobel, journalist and author Then Moses led Israel […]
“I’ll burn my stillerz gear in my yard and i’ll remove my tattoo from my leg!” If you’re not “from around here,” the statement likely makes no sense. But if you’ve ever spent time in western PA, you’re aware that our little slice of the world has a culture of its own. Ever since the glory days of […]
“Oh Ashley!” If you’ve ever read or seen Gone with the Wind, the scene nears unforgettable. Obsessed with Ashley Wilkes, Scarlett Ohara draws upon all of her ingenuity to woo the potential adulterer away from his wife. Weakened by his attraction to Scarlett, the southern gentleman almost gives in. Almost. His honor will not allow. […]
I stated in my last post that God’s grace gives us the power to love despicable people such as the ISIS terrorists who recently burned a Jordanian pilot alive. If you’re anything like me, you’re wondering how you can possibly love people that you would naturally want to see eternally squashed. History has shown love […]
If you’ve grown fond of the little yellow minions making their way around contemporary media, you’re probably familiar with the animated movie, Despicable Me. It’s the story of an evil villain, Gru, who adopts three little orphan girls to aid his plot to steal the moon, but who ends up falling in love with the […]
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now I see. T’was Grace that taught my heart to fear. And Grace, my fears relieved. How precious did that Grace appear The hour I first believed. John Newton These now famous […]
September 8, 2012. That was the night that Brandon Bushmire’s life was forever changed. It was 11:20 pm and Brandon, a 20-year old college student had just stepped off of the curb (near our ministry center) onto a street with a posted speed limit of only 25 mph. Suddenly a speeding car knocked Brandon to […]
It was the weightiest moment in all of history. Jesus—God in the flesh—knelt and cried out to the heavenly Father with unimaginable agony. Christ’s anguish was so deep, and the stress of the moment so intense, that His pores began to seep blood. If ever there was a time when Jesus needed a friend to […]
Have you ever wondered what Jesus looked like? I think that we safely can say that he wasn’t pale and sickly-looking the way that many of the Renaissance painters made Him to be. Jesus would, in fact, have had somewhat dark skin. If He was of average height for His day—and we have no reason […]
I love the God of the Old Testament! Honestly, I do. I suppose that some people will imagine me to be a judgmental enforcer of rules—or perhaps a really cruel-hearted guy with violent tendencies. Those prone to stereotyping might picture me carrying a protest sign alongside the members of Westboro Baptist Church—you know, that mean-spirited group […]
