Step Into Significance

A pastor friend once told me a story, and it has stuck with me ever since. When he was a teenager living on the east coast, he sinned in a way that caused him deep shame.  One day, he took a walk on the beach and sat on the shore. He felt so overcome with […]

In 1977, my high school basketball team raised money by playing donkey basketball. If you aren’t familiar with the concept, donkey basketball is exactly what it sounds like. You play basketball on a donkey. To this day, trying to coerce that donkey to take me toward the right goal was one of my most frustrating […]

When I was in high school, my family went on a ski trip. Toward the end of our vacation, my two youngest siblings decided they wanted to try skiing tougher mountains. Since I’m the oldest, I offered to take them. We caught a gondola to the top of the mountain, planned our path down, then […]

Luke 7:36-50 tells one of my favorite stories. In it, Jesus is eating dinner at a Pharisee’s home when a prostitute enters. She kneels in front of Jesus, weeping and worshipping Him by pouring expensive ointment on His feet. The Pharisee looked on in disgust, asking Jesus why He’d allow such a sinner to touch […]

Gallup Research recently reported that of the 67 percent of American adults raised in church, only 31 percent of them are still attending. That’s less than half! This saddened me because I understand how life changing it is to live life within a healthy, caring church community. Being connected to a healthy church is like […]

In a letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.”  The Book of Acts gives […]

Our lives are significantly marked by firsts. Our first steps, first words, and first day of school. Driving a car for the first time. Our first date with our spouse. The first time we held our first baby in our arms. Their first steps, first words, and first day of school. And the list goes […]

At 14, James Harrison had to have a lung removed. He was in the hospital for several months and received two gallons of donated blood as he recovered. This blood saved his life. Knowing this, Harrison decided he too would donate blood once he was old enough. And he did. Two years into donating, doctors […]

G. K. Chesterton, renowned British author, once visited America. He later penned What I Saw in America about his travels, calling the U.S., “a nation with the soul of a church” because it was “founded upon a creed.” That spiritual heritage is obvious all throughout our land. Read history, and you’ll find that all thirteen […]

In my twenties, I served as a missionary for three years. One night, on a brief visit home, God began dealing with me about witnessing to my mother. This was not a simple task, as my mother had strongly opposed my faith at its start. She had even kicked me out of my childhood home […]