I went for a hike the other evening after I left my office. A bit cold, to be sure, but the beauty of my trek was well worth the effort. A bright sun setting on the hilltops. A semi-fresh layer of snow covering the ground and still sticking to the trees. And the deer! Did […]
When I was a kid we had an oak tree growing in our front yard. Over the course of the 17 years we lived in that house the tree went from a small sapling to a mighty giant, dropping acorns everywhere. To think that it all began with a single acorn—a simple seed! As big […]
Bitter Root. Sounds somewhat natural, doesn’t it? Actually, this Montana state flower was at times prized as a delicacy by some Native American tribes. But not everything natural is good. You can be sure I won’t be buying Poison Ivy Skin Cream any time soon! The Bible also speaks of a bitter root—one that has […]
Desolate places. Perfection of faith. Purification of desires. Indeed, God’s desire is to use the wilderness to grow us into the image of Christ, to prepare us for the next phase of our calling, to make us more usable for His purposes. But there’s another element to a wilderness journey that is almost always overlooked! […]
I did everything right (at least in this particular situation). I prayed. I fasted. I confessed my faults to God. I picked an appropriate time. I approached the situation with humility and began the conversation by admitting my failures and asking for forgiveness. I was sincere in my approach, but the other person did not respond […]
This week our intern, Sam, unexpectedly lost his grandfather. Nobody knew it was coming. Suddenly—in an instant—he was ushered into the next life. Family and friends who remain are left to grieve and mourn their loss. For months Sam has played an integral role as we prepare to film our life-changing Search for Me identity […]
It’s true—we can text, tweet and IM. Email is old stuff, but still doable. All of these means have been used to deal with interpersonal conflict. The problem is that nothing compares with face to face communication where we can look at one another in the eyes. Effective conflict resolution can require a significant time investment. […]
They tell us he’s out there—somewhere. Some call him the missing link—that illusive transitional life form between man and ape. You’d think that they would have found him by now, what with all the effort. Unfortunately for naturalists, the missing link is still missing—providing a powerful platform for opponents of naturalistic theory. They tell us it’s […]
I was ticked! I admit it. For some bizarre reason my wife doesn’t always think the way I do. I had no question in my mind that she was wrong, but the decision was now mine. What to do with the situation? Should I continue to sulk and steam, or perhaps lash out in anger? […]
A friend of mine (let’s call him Bill) was recently confronted with a rather messy relational conflict. It seems that a neighbor possessed a growing grudge towards Bill—fed by statements several people made over the course of time. Each negative comment or accusation was like dry tinder to a fire about to burn out of […]
