There’s this tree in my front yard that gives me fits several times a year. It leans. No, it never breaks or stops growing . . . it just leans. It’s attractive, deep green, nicely shaped, and annually bears fragrant blossoms. But let a good, healthy gust give it a shove—and over it goes. Like, fast.
Read MoreTag Archives: Ephesians
A Parable: Saving Lives
On a dangerous seacoast notorious for shipwrecks, there was a crude little lifesaving station. Actually, the station was merely a hut with only one boat . . . but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the turbulent sea. With little thought for themselves, they would go out day and night tirelessly searching for those in danger as well as the lost. Many, many lives were saved by this brave band of men who faithfully worked as a team in and out of the lifesaving station. By and by, it became a famous place.
Read MoreA High Calling
Many professions draw public attention like warm watermelon draws flies. Those who practice them are constantly in the news. If it isn’t the money they make, it’s the company they keep or the trends they set or the controversy they spawn. Their notoriety is somewhere between amazing and appalling.
Read MoreThe Right Philosophy
People who know how are on the front lines and in the trenches, selling the product, teaching the students, fixing the cars, typing the letters, swinging the bats, getting the job done. They will always be the largest in number among the work force.
Read MoreManual Labor Motivation
Some collegians think manual labor is the president of Mexico—until they graduate. Suddenly the light dawns. Reality frowns. And that sheltered, brainy scholar who has majored in medieval literature and minored in Latin comes of age. He experiences a strange sensation deep within two weeks after framing his diploma. Hunger. Remarkable motivation accompanies this feeling.
Read MoreDivine Relief
What those little Visine drops do for our eyes, relief does for our sighs . . . “it gets the red out.” Few feelings bring a greater sense of satisfaction than relief, which Webster defines as “the removal or lightening of something oppressive, painful, or distressing.”
Read MoreQuestions to Ponder
How have you responded to these temptations mentioned in yesterday’s reading in your own life? Do you give things instead of giving yourself, your presence, your personal involvement?
Read MoreFor Men
I don’t often recommend a volume without reservation, but I think every man should read Temptations Men Face by Tom Eisenman. I’m not saying I agree with everything in it, or that you will, but his observations, insights, and suggestions are both penetrating and provocative. In fact, that book got me thinking about the top temptations fathers face.
Read MoreThe Path to Freedom
Do you need to be set free? Honestly now, is your next step the need to forgive? Do it. Don’t let anything or anyone talk you out of it. I know, I know. After all the misery you have had to endure, why should you have to be the one who humbles yourself and forgives?
Read MoreMy Grace Awakening – How God Made My Marriage Bloom
When I wrote The Grace Awakening almost 30 years ago, I couldn’t have imagined the book’s widespread impact. People still write to tell me how it changed their lives and even their marriages. Little do they know that, in part, the book originated from my own “grace awakening.” This June, Cynthia and I will be […]
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