Were you one of those guys saying, “Merry Christmas” to everyone the last few weeks? Did you disappoint the retailers by not getting caught up in the materialism? Was your usual family gift exchange replaced with carrying gifts to others in need? Was there something different about the way you reflected the Gift this year?

How can you be more different in the New Year? A friend recently told me of a practice he and his wife initiated ...read on

This final week of Advent is about love. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,” John 3:16. Merry Christmas indeed! Watching the news or reading the headlines could lead a person to think that love is dead, maybe even that God is dead. In an interview last weekend, Eric Metaxas stated, “The death of God is greatly exaggerated.” He said that Christians have no right to stay silent. Regardless of how society changes for the secular, Christians have no excuse ...read on

A “credible” threat shut down the Los Angeles school district this week. Just over a week ago, an office Christmas party in San Bernardino ended with 14 dead and 22 injured in what was identified as a terrorist attack. Just over a month ago an evening in Paris turned into a nightmare at a soccer match, a concert and a popular restaurant ending with 130 dead, all killed by seven terrorists. Just over a year ago ...read on

My friend was in the hospital undergoing a second round of chemo treatment for cancer and he was smiling. His smile was contagious. When a nurse asked him about having such a positive countenance through these trying times, he shared that it was all about his relationship with Jesus the Christ. Over the days following, the nurse found ways to spend a little extra time with him during her shift to ask more questions about his faith.

When I visited a few days into his treatment, he was ...read on

It was not looking good. There were already five divorces in his family! He had prayed for a happy marriage and family but would have understood completely if his girlfriend turned down his proposal for marriage. All he could really offer was a stubborn determination to break the cycle of divorce in his family and hope that it would be enough. She said, “Yes!”

Stubborn determination was not enough. read on...