As I type the words culture shock, my mind is racing back over the decades of my life. Flashing before me are the many changes I have personally witnessed in the cultural collapse of the Judeo-Christian ethic of our Western world in my lifetime.  I was born in 1947 and spent my boyhood days in the 1950s, when tens of thousands of American troops had just returned home from Europe and the South Pacific at the conclusion of World War Il. They married their high school sweethearts, and what sociologists have termed the baby boom began. In the 1950s, we […]

I marvel at how many folks in this country obtain ultimate success despite being unable to achieve their original dreams. There are many ways to earn a profession or career here despite missing the mark on the initial plans. Yet sometimes, like a first romance, some pine about earlier days and retrace their steps in an attempt to experience “what could have been” or just “return to the scene of the crime.” I did just that after failing at a professional baseball career.  Ten years after unceremoniously being shown the door of a minor league locker room, I doubled back […]

This year as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it’s vital that we remember not only the moment of our founding but also the spiritual movement that preceded it. Long before July 4, 1776, there was a stirring of hearts and a revival of faith. The Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s swept across the American colonies, laying the spiritual groundwork for the principled liberty that would follow. Contrary to modern revisionist claims, Christianity did not suppress liberty; it birthed it. The liberty our founders envisioned was deeply rooted in biblical truth. The Declaration of […]

I can imagine that if you had met one of the interns of Jesus before they were officially following Him and asked, “What is the purpose of your life?” they might have answered, “Sell fish.” Many people living 2,000 years ago made their living growing crops, raising livestock, building and repairing structures or selling fish. I imagine the vocation of selling fish — especially along the shore of a lake — was fairly stable and even lucrative. Like any profession, it carried its share of hardship, competition and long hours. Then one day, Jesus comes walking along the shoreline and […]