Temptation… … Reminds me of God’s grace and my free choice to follow God’s way or my own way – I don’t always choose right, but God’s grace is always there for me. I’m so much happier when I make the right choice from the start … Gives me an opportunity to reaffirm my commitment [...]

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The other day I felt God telling me to call a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was an unusually specific message that this person was having marital problems and I should call him to encourage him. This was strange and I passed it off as something I should do, but let [...]

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One of my students studied abroad last semester. That, however, didn’t stop him from spending quality time with his family. They are on a video chat in this picture having a great time playing poker together. He would tell them how to play his hand. It’s pretty odd, but it’s funny and a great memory [...]

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In a panel discussion I participated in with youth workers, the question came up from a student, “Why does life suck?”. While I’m sure we all wonder this some time, I had a little bit of unique perspective. I’ve recently worked my way through a particularly frustrating journey through life “sucking”. Nothing in my circumstances [...]

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The other day I was at Wally’s funeral. I never got to meet him before he got debilitated because of a brain tumor 6 years ago. I did, however, have the joy of having the younger of his 2 sons in my small group Bible study. It was at Wally’s funeral that I got a [...]

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I’ve been striving for an elusive goal for 10 years. I can never seem to nail this down. I’ve got the skill set needed, tons of experience, the drive to accomplish it and the passion to back it up. I just can’t seem to make it happen. Tonight I had a few thoughts about this [...]

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This weekend I’m in Dallas visiting my sister and her family so this morning I got to visit their church. It was great being in a different church and being exposed to fresh ideas. It’s a great reminder of how easy it is to be stuck in a bubble in my own church. It’s healthy [...]

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My mom travels a lot this time of year. When she’s gone, I water her plants for her. Because we’re having the hottest weather of the year right now, I got to thinking I better put a lot of water on her flower beds. By being generous with the water, it can absorb deeper into [...]

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Now tell us what you think about this: Is it right to pay taxes to the Roman government or not?” But Jesus knew their evil motives. “You hypocrites!” he said. “Whom are you trying to fool with your trick questions? Here, show me the Roman coin used for the tax.” When they handed him the [...]

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When I took a look at the graph of my blog stats today, it reminded me of the need to keep perspective and be humble. We should never be too proud of our accomplishments in life or too down on ourselves on the off days. We’ll have our share of ups and downs. My pastor, [...]

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