Like a hiker in the wild, we sometimes find ourselves stranded in the snow, caught in the storms, and endangered by the trials of life. It’s dangerous to be ill equipped for the journey. When we haven’t packed the right gear, we’re underprepared, over-exposed, and at risk of the elements. That is never God’s…
Christian Life Is Infused with Joy
The Christian life is marked by notable milestones, and you’ll find joy in every one of them. Remember, just because something is important and serious doesn’t mean it can’t also be filled with joy and the beauty of deep, abiding contentment. Salvation The moment of salvation is inexpressibly joyous. This is our eternal, spiritual delivery…
Peace: God’s Ultimate Goal
God’s ultimate goal for humanity is for peace to blanket the earth. His Son, Jesus Christ, was called the “Prince of Peace” by Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 9:6). That’s because Isaiah saw another day on the prophetic horizon. He described that day as a time when nations would beat their swords into plowshares, and their…
The Hard Way Made Easy
The Hard Way Made Easy Ecclesiastes 7:7-9 I had set out to drive to our college’s basketball game at a nearby school when I happened to remember a shortcut someone had told me about, a route around the California freeways. Being in no mood for traffic, I turned down side streets and back roads. Before…
God’s Timing: He Knows the Future
In the Fullness of Time But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. — Galatians 4:4 God often does the most extraordinary things in the most ordinary ways. Sometimes His acts are clearly extraordinary — like the burning bush where Moses…
Overcoming Anxiety with Peace
When Houston energy worker Shawn Baker was laid off in 2015, she opened a new business that quickly became a “smash hit.” It’s a place for angry, stressed – out, or anxiety – filled people to take out their frustrations on inanimate objects. Inside the building are four rooms lined with thick plywood, all stocked…
Christlike Character
Nate Roman of Marlborough, Massachusetts, came home from work one spring afternoon to discover someone had broken into his house. But this was no routine burglary, because nothing was missing. Instead, the intruder had cleaned Roman’s house top to bottom, spic and span. The rugs were vacuumed, the beds made, and the bathrooms scrubbed. Even…
Spiritual Warfare: Behind Enemy Lines
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. — 1 Peter 5:8 Why is it important to understand the enemy? Before you fight a war, it’s always a good thing to know something about your enemy. Nowhere is this statement truer than in…
God of the Impossible
God of the Impossible Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”— Mark 9:23 The word impossible occurs nine times in the New King James Version of the Bible, and most of the references tell us that this word doesn’t appear in God’s regular vocabulary. Matthew 17:20:…
A Life of Endurance
Heavy weights, lifted fewer times in succession, produce greater strength. Lighter weights, lifted with more repetitions, produce greater endurance. Every morning when I’m home in San Diego, I go to a gym to work out with a trainer. His name is Todd Durkin, and he’s one of the best trainers in the country…