I was recently asked, “What New Year’s Resolutions are you going to make?” I quickly answered “none.” I find it more fruitful to reflect on my “stones of remembrances” of God’s faithfulness to me and the ministry throughout the year. This year has been one of those challenging years personally and in ministry. In my…
Once we have established our own household it is necessary to prioritize and organize our thoughts around our finances, especially if we did not have the responsibility for them in the past. If we have children, our thoughts and actions usually revolve around them and their activities and everything else is put behind them. We…
While leading divorce recovery groups in the mid 1990’s, I became acutely aware of the issues newly single people were having with their finances. Many hadn’t been included in the financial decisions of the married household and they had never overseen a budget. At that time I was referring people in my groups to the…
These are certainly perilous times, just as the Bible told us they would be. (2nd Timothy 3:1) And those of us who have experienced domestic abuse and violence in our homes and lives understand and believe that very much. It does seem like the world has gone “off the rails”. As lawlessness abounds all around…
Relationships are supposed to be fun and fulfilling and full of love. That was God’s original plan. First with our family and our friends, then as romantic dating partners and then as married people, we were originally meant to be kind and loving and patient and full of grace and mercy towards the people in…
The Bible is full of true stories. God saved these real stories about real people who really lived so that we could learn from them. This week I’ve been reading the story of Abigail over and over. I believe God has something for us in her story which is saved in 1st Samuel 25:2-42, just…
February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. We are looking at this very important topic all month long. The reason? Simply this: if we build awareness of abuse at the teen/college level of relationships, we will reduce the number of women who are sitting in a support circle when they are 40 or 50 or…
Maybe you thought February is all about Valentine’s Day? Actually February has been designated as Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. Even though we are still in January (and it has been a long month), we are beginning to look at Teen Dating Violence. We talked a bit about the statistics last week, and it is…
What’s that old saying? “There’s no such thing as a stupid question.” Likely, most of us understand the implications of that statement. But I wonder, is it fair to say that some questions are better than others? We could probably agree on that. Truth be told, I think Jesus’ disciples didn’t always ask smart questions….
It’s that time of the year again….time to tighten up our Happy Face masks and pretend like everything is fine and hunky dory and nothing to see over here…. Christmas is supposed to be the time of comfort and joy, and no doubt we are so very thankful for the goodness of God to send…