William Wilberforce turned his life around as an Evangelical Christian in 1790. Already in Parliament, he began what proved to be an 18-year mission to abolish slavery in Great Britain. He was part of the Clapham Sect that worked to raise awareness of a number of social issues including the atrocities committed against mankind in the slave trade and he consistently introduced unpopular anti-slavery motions in Parliament. In 1807, the slave trade was finally abolished but ...read on
She was an incredible woman. Born in 1921, she aspired to be a vocal performer. As a senior in high school, she contracted tuberculosis. Her dream to perform was no longer possible and the vocal scholarship to attend college was rescinded. She married a handsome Navy pilot just before he was deployed to the South Pacific Theater in WWII. He returned quite a different man than the one she married. Post-Traumatic Stress played a major role in ...read on
On the first date, they talked for hours. In fact, he got her home quite late, later than her curfew, so he was in trouble with her dad before they even met. Over the following months, talk of their lives together just flowed naturally. Even though they were still in college and knew they would wait to marry until after graduation, discussions often went to how neat their kids were going to be and how fun it would be to raise their family together. They did marry shortly after graduating from college.
One day, several years into the marriage she was researching some information on the computer. It was her husband’s computer because hers had been acting up. A pop-up window invited her to ...read on
He was not a bad guy. He worked hard at his job and was determined to be a better husband and father than the men he saw growing up. He certainly had witnessed enough examples of what not to do. He led his family to church most Sundays and he made the kids’ events as his work schedule allowed.
One day the man’s pastor invited him to go on a Walk ...read on
We usually we get an unenthusiastic, “Okay,” or a shrug when we order water to drink. Hanna said, “Great! I will be right back with your water and be ready to take your order for dinner.” She had an engaging and bubbly personality as our waitress. When she brought our meals out I told her we were going to bless the food and asked her if there was anything we could pray about for her. Hanna’s countenance changed. She looked up and down the row of tables, moved closer to us and whispered, ...read on
There were five divorces in his immediate family so his perspective on marriage was influenced by the high failure rate. The young man knew marriage was important, particularly for raising a family, but the results in his family were not encouraging. In his wisdom, it seemed rational that a couple should live together for a period of time to make sure a marriage would work. That was his plan but when he met the right young lady, she told him to talk with her dad about that.
The official offer arrived on a Thursday afternoon. The company wanted an answer by Monday. On one hand, it would be foolish not to accept the offer. The dad had been out of work a couple of months and it was a great move into a company he had done work with. On the other hand, there was extensive travel involved with the position and that would put him back into a very similar situation to what he had left. On the other hand, there were no other offers on the horizon so he decided to ...read on
I am in the process of loading up another jar with 936 marbles for a new dad. I pray that at some point in our ministry that we can do this for every first-time dad – give him a jar of marbles as he and his bride leave the hospital to start a new chapter in marriage as dad and mom. (For a refresher on what this is about, click on: Losing Your Marbles).
On the front end, the 936 weekends dad has before the child turns eighteen seems like a long time. On the back end when the jar is empty, every dad ...read on
He had attended church regularly as a boy but life experienced in a violent alcoholic home was not consistent with his experience in church. He drifted from the faith as a young man but was determined to overcome the shortfalls of his father. Over the next 20 years he focused on being successful in the world and providing well for his family. He was sure that providing well was ...read on
Two friends were walking along the river bank when they suddenly heard a scream for help from a guy in the river. One of the young men dove into the river, grabbed hold of the kid and drug him to the bank. Then there was another scream from the river. The young man dove back in, grabbed hold of a young girl struggling to stay afloat and pulled her back to the bank. Sure enough, no longer had he gotten the second person to safety there was another scream from the river. As he was getting ready to dive back in a third time he noticed his friend was walking up the river bank. He hollered, “Aren’t you going to help me?” His friend responded, ...read on
William Wilberforce turned his life around as an Evangelical Christian in 1790. Already in Parliament, he began what proved to be an 18-year mission to abolish slavery in Great Britain. He was part of the Clapham Sect that worked to raise awareness of a number of social issues including the atrocities committed against mankind in the slave trade and he consistently introduced unpopular anti-slavery motions in Parliament. In 1807, the slave trade was finally abolished but 
She was an incredible woman. Born in 1921, she aspired to be a vocal performer. As a senior in high school, she contracted tuberculosis. Her dream to perform was no longer possible and the vocal scholarship to attend college was rescinded. She married a handsome Navy pilot just before he was deployed to the South Pacific Theater in WWII. He returned quite a different man than the one she married. Post-Traumatic Stress played a major role in 
On the first date, they talked for hours. In fact, he got her home quite late, later than her curfew, so he was in trouble with her dad before they even met. Over the following months, talk of their lives together just flowed naturally. Even though they were still in college and knew they would wait to marry until after graduation, discussions often went to how neat their kids were going to be and how fun it would be to raise their family together. They did marry shortly after graduating from college.
He was not a bad guy. He worked hard at his job and was determined to be a better husband and father than the men he saw growing up. He certainly had witnessed enough examples of what not to do. He led his family to church most Sundays and he made the kids’ events as his work schedule allowed.
We usually we get an unenthusiastic, “Okay,” or a shrug when we order water to drink. Hanna said, “Great! I will be right back with your water and be ready to take your order for dinner.” She had an engaging and bubbly personality as our waitress. When she brought our meals out I told her we were going to bless the food and asked her if there was anything we could pray about for her. Hanna’s countenance changed. She looked up and down the row of tables, moved closer to us and whispered, 
There were five divorces in his immediate family so his perspective on marriage was influenced by the high failure rate. The young man knew marriage was important, particularly for raising a family, but the results in his family were not encouraging. In his wisdom, it seemed rational that a couple should live together for a period of time to make sure a marriage would work. That was his plan but when he met the right young lady, she told him to talk with her dad about that.
The official offer arrived on a Thursday afternoon. The company wanted an answer by Monday. On one hand, it would be foolish not to accept the offer. The dad had been out of work a couple of months and it was a great move into a company he had done work with. On the other hand, there was extensive travel involved with the position and that would put him back into a very similar situation to what he had left. On the other hand, there were no other offers on the horizon so he decided to 
I am in the process of loading up another jar with 936 marbles for a new dad. I pray that at some point in our ministry that we can do this for every first-time dad – give him a jar of marbles as he and his bride leave the hospital to start a new chapter in marriage as dad and mom. (For a refresher on what this is about, click on: 
