You’re not – I am!

On a Saturday morning in early spring many years ago I was sitting in my easy chair at home, having just finished some pleasant quiet time, when the phone rang. I had no idea of the profound significance the call I was about to take would have on my life. I was at the beginning of a revelatory experience that would change me and my understanding of life forever. It was early and I was not expecting anyone to call so I picked up the phone with a bit of concern. The person calling, a man, asked to speak to me and I acknowledged that he was. “Good,” he said, “I was hoping to see you this morning. I think that I have a message from God for you.” “Who are you, and what is the message about, and why do you think it is for me from God?” I asked. I am by nature a skeptical person...

Whose Drumbeat Do You Follow?

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music that he hears, however measured or far away.“  Henry David Thoreau So, whose drum are you listening to? We all are hearing one you know. Listening, following. Is your drummer the incessant beat of the materialistic, hedonistic, “stuff” is the answer of our current culture? Are you caught up in the swirl of busyness and breathless aquisition that is the norm of our day? Many if not most Christians are. In fact in every measurable or discernable way the mass of what the world sees as contemporary Christianity looks no different from what they see in the mirror. We value what they value. We chase the same things they chase. The beat goes...

$$$$$$$$$ – ???

I read the following statements on a Christian leader’s blog recently, “We were created to work and money is like air; we need it to breathe. We need money to survive.” Do you believe that? Most Americans do. But the fact is it is a terrible analogy and especially from a Christian. The idea is so American culture, but so unbiblical. Money isn’t anything like air. I can live a very long life and experience all the really important qualities of life without money, but I can only live a few minutes without air. In God’s economy of sovereign abundance He has made all the most important things for the abundant life the easiest to obtain and most freely available. Air is first on the list, followed by water, food and shelter. Money never appears on God’s...

Six Lies We BelieveThat Distort Our Lives!

Walking in darkness…Today we are going to start a multi-part series that we hope will highlight some damaging deceptions that have crept into our contemporary Christian culture and the effect that they have on our abiliy to think and act coherently as Christ-followers. Jesus taught His followers to be careful not to be deceived. He used the metaphor of darkness and light to represent lies and truth and warned to be careful about what we accept as “light.” He said that if we receive darkness believing it to be light the deception would be “great.”  Let me give you and example of how this works. Let’s take the statement “You can’t legislate morality.” Have you ever heard that? Do you believe it? Well, most people do. And yet, nothing could be...