It seems if it weren’t for bad news we’d have no news at all. The 24/7 news cycle trends to sensationalizing bad news – the latest earthquake or other natural disaster, a military conflict, an oppressing government, disrespect for authority, lawlessness and immorality. In various formats, these represent the categories for local and national news programs. With no other reference points, it would seem the only conclusion to draw is that the world is going to hell in a hand basket! The darkness can be overwhelming.

In Focus on the Family’s The Truth Project, Dr. Del Tackett speaks of a morning when his grandson opened a closet door in their entryway. He sees something ...read on

I remember my first confession. It was awkward going into the confessional, kneeling down and waiting. Then there was a sliding sound of a small wooden partition and the priest’s voice asking what I would like to confess. There was a screen over the small opening so I could not see the priest and I was hoping he couldn’t see me either. After all, I was an altar boy! I had come to confess stealing a candy bar. I had already gotten my whooping and apologized to the store owner but Ma said I needed to go to confession. She was right. It was an important step to truly come clean and experience forgiveness in a way I had not experienced it before.

In 1934, Dietrich Bonhoeffer confessed with a number of other pastors and priests that ...read on

“I am frugaler than you are!” He responded, “That’s not even a word. Besides, I am more frugal than you are.” Then she would say, “I am the frugalest!” He conceded. In fact it was because his wife was so frugal - she had not allowed their expenses to increase as income increased during his career in the corporate world, that they could initiate a move into ministry. The Lord honors the discipline of frugality with effective stewardship in life and ministry.

Frugality seems to be a lost discipline today with the estimated total indebtedness of U.S. households being ...read on

They were the last two in the office that evening. As Joe left, he said, “How are you doing Fred, see you in the morning.” Fred responded, “See ya.” Joe did not see Fred again because he committed suicide the next morning. Upon reflecting on that last “conversation” at Fred’s funeral, Joe shared a conviction to be more vulnerable, to mean it when you ask someone how they are doing and be willing to sit down and talk with them. He was not suggesting that he could have prevented the suicide by sitting down that evening, but ...read on

If you have seen the movie, Amazing Grace, you may know William Wilberforce as the man that abolished slave trade in Great Britain in 1807. In his book, “Seven Men and the Secret of their Greatness”, Eric Metaxas quotes Wilberforce writing that “God Almighty has set before me two Great Objects: the suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners.” Metaxas goes on to write that the terrible evil of the slave trade was only one – albeit the worst – of the social evils running rampant at the time in England. “Reformation of Manners” had to do with the other social evils - Child labor was common with poor children as young as five and six working ten- or twelve-hour days; alcoholism was an epidemic of proportions hard to imagine today; and sexual trafficking of woman had fully 25 percent of all single women in London working as prostitutes at an average age of sixteen. Wilberforce knew these Objects were set before him by God and it would be God working through him and many others that would bring them to realization.

Today in America, social evils are alive and well ...read on

She knew something was up. Usually on Sunday mornings she would be the first one up but this morning there were stirrings in the house before she was fully awake. Then the kids and dad burst into her room, tray in hand with pancakes, a bowl of fruit and a fresh cup of coffee! She was getting breakfast in bed! Then they presented a big Mother’s Day card with signs that everyone had contributed to making it. Inside the card were lots of, “You’re the Best Mom!”, “Thanks, Mom” and “Luvya, Mom” along with service coupons for everything from washing her car to washing the dog to getting themselves ready for church. It was a special Mother’s Day for sure!

Don’t panic dads, you have another week. I thought you might appreciate a heads up with some tips from my bride. read on...

Dad moved his family five times in her first nine years of life. His daughter had attended four different schools by the time she entered the fourth grade and he was still traveling about 75% of the time. He had not made one parent-teacher conference, not one school activity and even missed her stage debut when she got the lead in her second grade production – 468 marbles lost.

On their last move, a friend shared a story ...read on

It was quite a wedding – a beautiful bride and nervous groom. I wondered if they really understood the love they were committing to “until death do they part”. In his book, “The Five Love Languages” Gary Chapman says the “tingly” love phase in marriage - when neither can do any wrong in the other’s eyes, may last 2 weeks to 2 years. Then couples must learn to love as husband and wife – a man is to love his wife as Christ loves the Church; and a woman is to respect her husband (Eph.5:33).

Then they must learn to love as parents. What a fabulous moment it is when ...read on

Mountain stream, pure bottled water is the advertisement. What are the benefits? In areas where the water supply has been contaminated, bottled water can certainly be a life source. And for emergency preparedness, a supply of bottled water serves a very practical purpose. But the day to day consumption of bottled water has almost become an obsession for pure water. The idea of drinking water out of a faucet, or heaven forbid out of a water hose, is not acceptable for many.

This obsession with purity does not extend to various media flowing into the home. read on ...

In the movie City Slickers, Curly resolutely holds up one finger and answers, “One thing” when Mitch asks him about the secret to life. “What’s the ‘one thing’?” he pleas. Curly says, “You have to figure that out.” In “The Power of Habit”, Charles Duhigg documents how when a person will focus on changing one habit, the impact on other areas can be phenomenal. One young lady in the study focused on her smoking habit. Her conviction that she had to give up smoking touched off a series of changes that would ultimately radiate out to every part of her life. She replaced smoking with jogging, and that, in turn, changed how she ate, worked, slept, saved money, scheduled her workdays, planned for the future and so on. She had found the ‘one thing’ that got her life back on track.

A while back a dad was struggling with relationships in the home, stress at work and general frustration with where he was in life. He was challenged to ...read on