We’ve been through various collective, societal experiences this year, including the continued effects of a pandemic, global supply chain issues and what they’re calling the ‘Great Resignation.’ Cultural reality is constantly shifting. To accommodate, we must leave behind mindsets and habits that hinder us from moving forward and revise long-standing routines or risk becoming burnt out. Three Things Left Behind As we enter into a new year, let’s be intentional about abandoning these three things:   Our Desire for ‘Normalcy’ I’ve heard friends and peers share their hope for a return to normalcy. Most wish to go back in time […]

(Scroll down to leave a comment on how you are resistant to the customs of this world.) Daniel 1:1–8 Daniel was keenly aware of the temptation to yield to the pressures of the culture around him. After all, he was a long way from home, and who would really know if he, for instance, changed his diet? Yet he chose to resist the pressures and not to give in to them. He drew the line. Note, however, that he went along with some things, nonessentials like learning the language or reading Babylon’s history. But Daniel resisted at each and every […]

Marriage seminars were never really “my cup of tea.” Not that I feel my performance as a husband is exemplary and does not need adjusting. Personal failures of both the witting and unwitting variety are sufficient to merit a closer look. Yet, the idea of sitting in a closed space with couples bearing their burdens for an extended period of time while a “trainer” provides helpful advice was not appealing to me. Of course, my stalling tactics fell on deaf ears and subsequently Julianne and I “agreed” to attend one sponsored by a friend. And, you know what? It wasn’t […]

Hope. Our hearts yearn for it. Our souls long for it. After a couple of years of chaos, caused largely by a global pandemic, the world is desperately seeking strength, joy and hope when the surrounding world seems to be crumbling. To find that sense of happiness, some have turned to a false sense of hope… to try to fill the hole that only a relationship with Christ can fill. Where are we looking to receive the sense of “comfort and joy” that we all desperately desire? There can be only one true answer, and it was revealed thousands of […]