A woman in our church was recently baptized. She invited her family to come and witness the event. They came, even though they weren’t followers of Jesus. But they had seen the dramatic changes in her life over the past months. Having come out of a recovery program,...
When Janet and I were engaged, she wanted a hope chest. In typical entrepreneurial fashion, I built her one from scratch without plans. Plans might take too long, so I just started with some lumber and built as I went. It turned out beautifully—a pine hope chest, one...
In the recovery community where I volunteer I was recently giving a brief presentation on dealing with our emotions, then we broke off into smaller groups to talk about how to apply the lesson. Roger (not his real name) was in my group. Roger is always quiet and...
Jesus hung out with those who had tried all the other options. These are people who, like King Solomon, have already tried every other way to fill the void… so they know God is the only answer. They have a righteous desperation. The early disciples often felt the same...
Dave Daubert has a woman in his congregation who reads the local paper through God’s eyes. What she means by this is that as she reads the newspaper, she looks for good things people have done. When she finds them, she sends a thank you note: “I noticed...
Fifteen years ago I was speaking in Australia on what it means to live missionally. One person raised his hand and said, “Our church structures don’t allow us to do what you’re talking about.” I responded, “If your church structures keep you from following what Jesus...
