strongerby1

Let’s face it, 2009 was a tough year for a lot of us.  Many of us are glad to see the number on the calendar change over so we have some shred of optimism build up again.
Isaiah 43:18-19 reminds us to, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing [...]

My middle daughter Mackenzie will be turning 12 at the end of the month, and we are celebrating her coming into young womanhood with a rite of passage party, and a big challenge.  The expectations are unmistakably high, but I can tell you she is absolutely excited about living up to these qualities already having [...]

“Prayer is the spiritual discipline through which our mind and heart are converted from hostility or suspicion of people to hospitality toward them.  Prayer is the radical starting point to slowly experience a re-orientation of all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves and others.  To pray is to desire to know more fully the truth [...]

If the Son of Man has been born into my human flesh, then am I allowing His holy innocence, simplicity, and oneness with the Father the opportunity to exhibit itself in me?  What a great opening question I’ve borrowed directly from Oswald Chambers, author of the best devotional on the planet, “My Utmost for His [...]

What is Faith?  ”Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.” Hebrews 11:1  Since I became a pastor some 6 years ago, I have had countless numbers of people ask me questions about God and how could I believe the [...]

I used to just pray when I needed something from God.  I had reduced my interaction with God to a prayer transaction of sorts.  The time I took to pray and the prayer itself were my currency for God to supply goods and services as I saw fit in the aforementioned prayer request.  The customer [...]

Many of us appear to be all right in general, but there are still areas in our lives where we are careless or lazy.  James 1:4 says to “Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”  I am not a patient person, and I’m even more lazy than [...]

Darkness brings out the creepy crawlies, and under the cover of darkness is when spiders prefer to weave their webs.  I would think it has something to do with their best chance to capture their prey.  Not that spiders or bugs aren’t around us in the daylight, but when was the last time you walked [...]

Having just lost my precious wife Andrea to a 10-year battle with cancer, there is a scripture I clung to in those darkest of times: “But for you who revere my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.”  I was just getting to know Jesus as this “Son” of righteousness, [...]