Strange things can happen in a church service, and I’ve seen more than my share. Once we had a young man in our choir who had a bad case of stage fright. The choir had finished singing, and I was just getting ready to preach when the young... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
There’s no room for error when you fly low. On Friday, August 9, 2013, 13-year-old Sade Brantley and 1-year-old Madisyn Mitchell were killed when an airplane crashed into their home in East Haven, Connecticut. Former Microsoft executive, Bill... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Most of us tend to grade ourselves on a curve. I will never forget a prisoner I met at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana. When I asked if he would spend eternity in Heaven when he died, he told me yes. Surprised, I asked... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
If making excuses doesn’t justify sin, then why do we do it? Here are some of the common excuses people have given bosses for their behavior at work: “It’s not my fault;” “It was someone else’s fault;” “Something else came up;” “I didn’t have... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
When a man introduced himself to me after my sermon, I suddenly felt like a tiny ant trapped on a hungry spider’s web. He was a professor at a prestigious Christian university, and I half-expected him to systematically tear apart my sermon... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
You don’t have to have a degree in sociology (the study of human nature) to know hypocrisy when you see it. Back when I was a freshman in high school, my friend Johnny saw some of the “pious” elders in my dad’s church go outside and smoke on... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Kids deserve the very best. So why is it that when we give them role models, the “models” are rarely worthy of emulation? All I have to say is “Alex Rodriguez” or “Cory Monteith,” and you’ll understand. On August 8, three-time MVP Alex... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
It takes a lot of maturity not to worry about what others think of us. But it takes just as much maturity to care about how others are influenced by our actions. Earlier this year, I went to the Bahamas with my wife and two of my grandkids. A... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
“Pay now or pay later” is the commonly overused mantra of insurance agents and auto mechanics. How do I know the idiom is overused? Because I saw a mechanic use it in a television commercial. (You know times are tough when auto mechanics have... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
Most of us wouldn’t find much beauty in a pile of sticks, but one father used sticks to create a beautiful illustration of unity. One day, the father caught his two sons fighting. He called them into the house, gave his oldest son a small... [ ... ][ abbreviated | read original blog ]
