July 6, 2009PatienceI confess to not being the most patient person on earth. Truthfully, I am not even close to winning an award for that kind of self control. But based on a couple of recent...

June 29, 2009ObituariesFor some reason, I was reading the obituary and funeral announcements the other day. With no disrespect to the men and women mentioned there, I did make a few interesting...

July 13, 2009Short Term Missions TripsI have always been fascinated by the statistical data that comes out of the Christian research firm, The Barna Group. A recent article by Barna’s current...

July 20, 2009MarginsI am a pretty prolific reader, but if I had to choose the three most influential books I have ever read (with the scriptures in a category by themselves!), I would mention...

July 27, 2009Returning to WorkIt is Sunday night and I am returning to work tomorrow after a wonderful three week vacation. I sailed the Inland Passage in southwestern Alaska and visited British...

August 3, 2009CompassionI had the opportunity this past week to visit with an old friend from out of state. He used to do youth work in the area but now is a policeman back east. I had a great...

August 10, 2009 The Death of Good SamaritansWe have all heard stories about an assault victim crying out for help only to have people around them refuse to come to their aid. One of the worst of...

August 17, 2009The Law of Kindness on our TongueI spent some time in an emergency room last night. My god-daughter is pretty sick with the flu and a very infected throat. Around 3 am I pulled up to...

August 24, 2009 Praying for Your Children A few years back, there was this very cute commercial for office supplies that featured a mom or dad skipping through the store dropping paper and pencils...

August 31, 2009 Why Swearing is Good for You (NOT!!) A couple of weeks ago Time magazine had an interesting article in its “Health” section. It was entitled, “Why swearing is good for you…It not...

September 8, 2009Long Standing GrudgesNot too long ago a friend was sharing with me about a recent family gathering. It seems that the extended family got together for a celebration of some kind and...

Health Care Debate Last week, the health care debate became personal for me. It seems that I came down with a flu of some kind (five tests for swine flu later, they are still unsure of the...