“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Several years ago, I attended a breakfast at my church. I really wanted to sleep-in that morning, but something told me to get up and go. It never registered with me that it was the Spirit that was telling me to get out of bed, but I realized afterwards that God had something to say that […]

“Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:14) If there’s one thing that fateful day fifteen years ago has taught us, it’s that tomorrow is not promised. If only we could apply that line of thinking to other areas of our life. The truth from the 9/11 tragedy is some of us now realize that the nice cars, big homes, many of the dreams that we have […]

“Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy.” (Exodus 20:8) My wife was ill this past Sunday and I decided to stick around the house in case she needed me. When I became stir crazy, I decided to run a few errands before lunch. When entering Lowe’s Home Improvement, I was surprised by the number of people shopping. As strange as it may seem, except for vacations, I had rarely missed going to church on Sunday morning. But, there I stood in Lowe’s with the rest of the unchurched, […]

“Many sorrows shall be to the wicked. But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.” (Psalm 32:10) We’ve all heard it when we have one of those insurmountable needs that life brings our way. Our Christian brothers and sisters will tell us to turn it over to the Lord. “Put it in his hands,” they will often say. That’s great advice and I certainly don’t disagree with it. But the spiritual question is “How”? Turning a problem over to the Lord is an easy thing […]