This summer I’m on a special four-month program to deal with some health issues. When I started, I asked God to do for me spiritually what I was trying to accomplish physically.  Heal and detox.  Several weeks in, the spiritual detox began. Thoughts, expectations, and judgments bubbled up like the crude oil on the Beverly…

You have let me experience the joys of life and the exquisite pleasures of your own eternal presence. Psalm 16:11 TLB I sat in my tent and read my Bible. Though it was early, the sun was up. Outside, guides banged pots and pans as they prepared breakfast on this, the last day of our Rogue…

We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV As summer approaches, what do you plan to capture?  Moments with growing kids?  Memories with friends and family?  How about thoughts? No, not the ones you add to the to-do list before you forget. Out-of-bound thoughts.  Like complaints.  Complaints are…

One of my favorite stories is “The Knights of the Silver Shield” by Raymond M. Alden. In the story, a group of valiant knights lived in the forest where they fought the evil giants of the land. They bore silver shields that shone brightly when a knight was virtuous but became cloudy when he was…

The alabaster jar of spikenard. An unusual gift. Precious. Costly. This was no bottle of cheap perfume. The pink-blossomed spikenard plant grew in India. Its fragrant oil, collected from the plant’s spikes, was valued so highly that one bottle cost a year’s wages.  Scripture records several accounts of women bringing their oil-filled alabaster jars to…