Unless you’ve avoided the Olympic games and television and news feeds in general, you’re probably aware of the embellished robbery story with Ryan Lochte and three other American swimmers. As I watched his interview with Matt Lauer on the Today Show, I was moved with compassion. It’s OK Ryan. I mean, it’s not really okay and he knows that. But ...

I enjoy playing games, and I certainly prefer to win over losing, but it’s important in life for us to always see ourselves as winners. The Bible says we have been given every spiritual gift in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). But we didn’t receive this promise because of our good looks… no, we’ve been showered with gifts from heaven because we ...

Perfection. That thing we are all silently striving for. Have you ever thought why? What is it about perfection that drives us as humans? We want to be the perfect parent, perfect spouse, perfect at our craft, with the perfect body, perfect teeth, perfect home, etc, etc, etc. It’s exhausting to think about, yet perfection remains this thing we all ...

When I give you the answer to this question, don’t stop reading. HOW DO I FORGIVE MYSELF, you ask? The answer is: simply by faith. I know that’s not what you’re looking for. You want the 1,2,3 steps of punishment and/or discipline. Well, I’m here to tell you the Bible doesn’t lay it out that way. Religion, the devil, and your ...

When I think back to my teenage years, I cringe a little at how silly my teenage problems felt at the time. I was 16 my sophomore year of high school and hadn’t yet had my first real boyfriend but I had a lot of “guy” friends in my group. And most of my “girl” friends were girlfriends to someone. ...

In the famous children’s novel, Alice in Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts is an interesting character. Overseeing the kingdom with the King of Hearts, she changes from pleasant to enraged every other minute. At the slightest offense, she shouts, “Off with their heads!” It seems ordering executions is one of her hobbies. However, as the story goes, very few were ...

A faith to live by. A purpose to live for. A self to live with. It took me awhile to understand each of these, but I now know without any hesitation that these three are a must (not an option). “But without faith, it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, ...

Healing comes in all shapes and sizes. I’m always in awe of the care God puts into the tiniest details. People can receive healing of heart for their brokenness, healing of body for sickness and disease, and healing of mind for trouble and despair. But one thing we need to be clear on: God didn’t “heal” our spirits. Our spirit ...

Our fear (respect & love) of God must far outweigh our fear of man. At the airport, we realized three other mission teams from across the United States were also on our flight to Honduras. I looked at a member of another team and said, “Jesus sure loves Honduras.” Every summer I travel with a missions group to minister in ...

When we think about something being “permanently fixed,” we’re referring to anything that is fastened, attached, or placed so firm, it’s not readily movable. This could be anything from a palm tree to a cement bunker. In the same manner, Jesus asked us to be permanently fixed in two things: His Word and His Love. If you’ve ever used super glue to repair ...