Focus I like it when God sends a “coincidence” across my path. For the record, I don’t believe in coincidences. Things happen for a reason. We don’t always, in fact often, know why. But when we know and trust God, the why doesn’t matter. Today in my quiet time, I was in Romans 8 again, and I passed through 8:18, […]
Chosen If you’ve ever bought a puppy or thought of adopting a child, you know something about the criteria for making a choice. Did you ever think about what criteria God used for making you? Ethel Waters used to say, “God don’t make no junk.” But we fret that our eyes are brown not blue, or we’re short not tall, […]
Erasers Erasers are wonderful things. They allow us to correct mistakes or revisit a thought that made all the sense in the world when we wrote it, but now you wonder, “What was I thinking?” Revelation 3:5 is one of the Bible’s many “if-then” statements, and it mentions an eraser we want nothing to do with. Jesus had just finished […]
Consider the Cost Today’s title is wise counsel for anyone building a building, starting a business, planning a wedding, buying a home, or making a cross-country move. There are also student loans, auto maintenance, utility and insurance bills. Don’t forget the subtle ones; wrong decisions, wrong materials on a job, and I could go on. There are so many details […]
Put On I remember using a phrase in my younger days when someone had just said something hard to believe, either in general or because it was coming out of their mouth: “Are you putting me on?” There were other versions that I won’t quote here. Then there was our caring mother asking, “Did you put on clean socks and […]
Own It Remember when your kids were little and a dispute arose among them? The first to tell his story blamed it on his sister. The sister blamed it on her brother. When I think back over my experience with my kids doing this, I smile, remembering how I had to negotiate a settlement between them. But the heart behind […]