I keep thinking about the 2019 New Year’s resolution that our young worship leader made. From onstage he told us: “This year my goal is to get closer to God. I just wanna get so close to him that he’ll have to say, ‘Man, you gettin’ on mah nerves!’” Everyone loved it! And I couldn’t help picturing an adorable toddler…
After the initial shock about the coronavirus (and adapting to restrictions) had passed, I began to be disappointed in some of the reactions of my countrymen in general, and of Christians as well. Yes, I too felt a bit restricted, anxious, fearful. But over the weeks, we’ve been inundated with “helps”: ways to minimize stress tips to conquer severe anxiety…
It was 1981. My parents were visiting Japan, helping us to build a building. While Dad installed kitchen cabinets, the Japanese tile man, Mr. Narahashi, was installing the Japanese-style bath. (Everybody should have an American kitchen and a Japanese bath!) During a breather, the two men stood drinking coffee. Only the most casual of introductions had been made. (Of course,…
A memory from my teen years flashed into my head, for some reason, and made me look up the old song “I’m on the Battlefield for My Lord.” The back story: I was about 16 and at a teen youth rally. Visiting was a 90-year-old black man (about 4-foot-11!) from a Bible college in Louisville. He stood up in front…
The minister’s sermon was on the Matthew 10:16 idea of “wise as serpents, innocent as doves.” His focus was how Satan zeroes in on the one thing we crave…and uses it to distance us from the Lord and bring us down. He told of Eve, who couldn’t be happy with all she had—had to have the fruit from that one…