Jim Graff

In between college semesters, I spent a summer working in the sheriff’s office in New Orleans. It may seem like an odd job, but it was the perfect setup for me. The sheriff’s office had a solid softball team, and my brother coached at the University of Tulane. So, I worked during the day, then […]

South Texas is my home. I’ve been here 37 years now, and I love it. When I first got here, though, I’ll admit I needed help to fit in. Tamara, a South Texan all her life, had to teach me some things (like how to add an extra syllable to Ji-im and how to take […]

We all yearn to live a life of significance—to “become somebody.” But not just anybody. We want to become someone people admire and respect. The problem is—there’s a step we all must take on the road to significance, and many times, we don’t like it. It’s called failure. That’s because when we fail, it’s easy to […]

At the end of World War II, much of Europe lay in ruins. Pieces of buildings sat devastated by bombings and burnings. Streets overflowed with rubble and dust. Orphaned children lined the street—kids left suddenly without care, food, and shelter. One morning during this terribly dark time, an American soldier was driving his jeep through […]

Problems are like belly buttons. Everyone has them! But how we handle them determines how our stories end up. Resilience turns our stress into a God-story, while letting stress overtake us keeps us stuck in negative emotion, which leads to nowhere significant. Jesus comments on the inevitability of problems in John 16:33: “In this world […]

Abraham Lincoln once said, “My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.” Complacency amid failure keeps us stuck, but learning from our mistakes pushes us into eventual success. This get-back-up, teachable attitude is called resilience.  Resilience is vital for all success in every area of life. We […]

My son Michael learned to swim when he was four years old. He was so excited; he wanted to show everyone he knew! One afternoon, after returning from time at the pool with his grandfather, I noticed Michael’s face had turned from excitement to terror. “What happened, Michael?” I asked. He looked around, as if […]

In 1985, my family and I endured what they dubbed “the year from hell.” In March, I went home to visit my parents after 2.5 years on the mission field. While there, I felt God speak to my heart that the foundations of my life would shift that year. I thought it was odd, and […]

Every Christmas, one of my favorite things to do is sit down, uninterrupted, and read the Christmas story. While both Matthew and Luke offer beautiful accounts of Jesus’ birth, I have to admit Luke’s account is my favorite. Perhaps it’s the detail with which he describes Jesus’ birth. After all, it’s recorded that he was […]

The wise men. We hear about them often this time each year, in Christmas carols and productions. We find them littering nativity scenes of all shapes and sizes. But how much do we really understand about these men?  If you’re like most, this is likely the extent of your knowledge: the wise men followed a star from the […]