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Workout for the Week: Set the Story Straight, The Christmas Story Memory Verse: Acts 17:11 (NIV) “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” Meditation Passage: John 1:1-18 Key Thought:…

Workout for the Week: How to Train According to the Heart Memory Verse: Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV) “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Meditation Passage: Romans 8:5-14 Key Thought: I must train…

Twelve backs were torn open by the lashing whip. Thirty-seven. Thirty-eight. Thirty-nine strokes. Some time had passed since Jesus’ ascension. The apostles had been arrested. They’d spent a night in jail, experienced an angelic rescue, and then appeared before the Jewish Council. And now, a flogging. You can find the story in Acts 5. Even…

Election Day. Finally. Regardless of the results, let’s focus on two things: God is sovereign, and He can use ungodly people to accomplish His purposes. Though Hebrews 11 is filled with Hall of Faith heroes, Scripture is filled with outside–the-box, even outside-the-faith people used to accomplish God’s plan. Check out this line-up: Egyptian pharaohs. Joseph’s…

What is truth? Pilate’s question has become mine, though I’ve amended it. What is my truth? The amendment, however, is faulty. There is no my truth or your truth, though our culture grasps such terms in an effort to justify its choices. The fact remains. There is one truth and one truth only. We either…

I’m taking a dance class at my daughter’s studio. I have no dance background. None. Zip. Zero. Nada. We spend half of class time on technique. The other half is spent learning to worship through dance. And it’s been amazing. It’s very freeing to just dance. To let go. No one spends time checking out…

Echoes of previous sermons haunt me. Don’t be the bad soil. You know the parable. Farmer sows seed. The seed falls in four places: the path, a rocky place, a thorny, weedy spot, and the cultivated field. Only the field yields a crop. But— Wasn’t the soil the same? I doubt seriously that the soil…

My big toenails were toast. I was seven miles into a rim-to-rim hike of the Grand Canyon. Thirteen to fourteen miles down the North Rim (with side trails). Eight up the South Rim. The trek started as my personal getaway. I needed some space. I planned to do the hike in one day. However, since…

“No one is good—except God alone,” Jesus says in Mark 10:18 (NIV). Yet, He also tells us there will be times when He appears anything but. That’s when trusting God gets tough. Several weeks ago, a dear friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her daughter fought a similar battle a few years earlier at the…

The breeze from the north this morning whispered of autumn, sweaters, and boots. But who are we kidding? This is September. In Texas. While I love my boots and sweaters, they’ll stay on the shelf a while longer. Texans layer as temps swing twenty to thirty degrees in the course of a day, so my…