The measure of our faith shows itself as much in the aftermath of failure as in the glow of attainment. Post-failure, Satan weaves his "best" lies. In these times the boots of faith must gain gritty traction, and hold. How? I offer a few thoughts from 1 Corinthians 1: Look to Jesus to regain hope. In 1 Cor. 1:4-9, Paul confidently states, about the seriously-messed-up-sin...

All of life turns on what we think of God, in fleeting moments. Whether we are conscious of it or not, our actions start with a subtle two-step of trust and hope. A common example: A husband (OK, you got me - me) is feeling mildly resentful about something his wife said or did (which for the life of me I cannot remember now exactly what it was). Their normal practice is t...

Small steps of faith are the long pry bar that moves mountains of change....

We want happiness; we are ever in search of it; a current book written by a Briton describes how we Americans can't find it. Perhaps we are more prone to search harder for happiness; its pursuit is built-in to our founding document and character. Or turn on PBS and you'll hear about "mindful awareness", an eastern practice that's the en vogue way to happiness. Even the mun...

In all the Psalms Jesus meets with us, identifying with our weaknesses, having compassion on us, and graciously meeting us with help in our time of need. But he does not always help us on our terms, the way we would devise. Sometimes we call out for him for grace and mercy, but he meets us first with more wounds, more hurt. Psalm 50 pictures such a time. We must keep humbl...

In the process of change, we often miss a vital step. If you miss this step, you miss something vital for going to where you want to go. You want life, real life. And your/my next step for finding life is often one of two things: “Stop doing that,” or “Just believe.” Both are good ...