Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. ~ Romans 5:5

As someone who counsels a lot of people, and am often baffled by their response (or lack thereof) to some of the Bible-based answers I give them, I’ve prayed for a long time for God to show me, in some tangible way, how to understand this.

Here’s what I got:

Picture an ebola clinic – Patients that are ravaged with the disease are coughing uncontrollably, running fevers, and suffering from massive headaches. As a doctor in this clinic, I would not walk up to one, point to someone who has just succumbed to the disease, and tell them, “Stop coughing, right now, or this is going to happen to you.” or “If you insist on keeping that headache, you will end up…

You know, the further I travel along this Christ-following journey, the more I’m persuaded there’s just one overwhelming priority for the Bride of Christ in this late hour.

There is no shortage of prophetic voices proclaiming numerous messages in the name of Christ: messages about the end times, spiritual warfare, cities and nations, world events, the economy, and other things that seek to occupy our minds and thoughts. But unless those prophetic messages have been received and wrestled with in the furnace of God’s consuming love they do little more than add more noise into the confusing chaos of the world around us.

Like many other Christ followers who watch and pray, I am aware of the signs of the times, the clash of the Kingdom of God with earthly kingdoms currently taking place. Beyond that watchfulness, though, there is an even deeper conviction that the Spirit is calling the…

When I was younger, I used to love running with my  cross-country teams during each practice.  It provided an incentive to beat the old” guy and encouraged them to get the best out of themselves (If coach is able to do this, then I should be able to.).  We were fortunate that the area surrounding our school provided a plethora of woodland trails on which we could train.  One year, we actually did a different workout for each practice for the entire season.

One time in particular, we were running through the woods during bow hunting season.  To avoid the danger of an errant arrow we would make a lot of noise.  None of my runners were hunters and didn’t want to become one later in life.  So they would run through the woods shouting, “Run away!  Run Away!” in high-pitched falsetto voices-ala an old Monte Python skit. We thought…

Sunday Stills, the next challenge: Clouds in Black and White

Here are my clouds in black and white and check out other entries here and here.

I added the inverted counter part to each photo because I thought it looked pretty amazing!

Distraction Overload

Are you being distracted?

Are you frustrated?

Do you even know you are being distracted?

 These days the enemy likes nothing better than to get your mind off of Christ. And I have to say he is doing a pretty good job of it, well at least in my life he is.

If we let him the enemy will fill every available moment with little tasks which in turn begin to morph into larger ones resulting in a snowball effect of distractions. For me, it results in a multitude of frustration ending with a wasted day. But wait, it doesn’t end there because that’s when I start to ponder over how my time got wasted on the little tasks which turned into all day affairs and even now as I sit and type my “todo list” is calling me.

Oh, Lord, help me to stay focused on…

When I was younger and kind of “finding myself” in terms of relationships and career, my biggest idol was peer acceptance.

I thought that if I ticked all the right boxes in terms of saying all the ‘right’ things, making people laugh, and generally being seen as clever and successful, I would receive the acceptance I craved.

I would never have considered myself “dead in my sin” but I think part of me was dead to the “colour” and life-giving power that could be found in a deep and rich and engaging relationship with God…

I like the CS Lewis quote from his book the Weight of Glory:

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the…

Vintage Dilbert
July 29, 2000

When you thought I wasn’t looking,
I saw you hang my first painting on the fridge,
and I immediately wanted to paint another one…

When you thought I wasn’t looking,
I saw you feed a stray cat and I learned that it was good to be
kind to animals…

When you thought I wasn’t looking,
I saw you make my favorite cake for me and I learned that the
little things can be the special things in life…

When you thought I wasn’t looking,
I heard you say a prayer and I knew there was a God I could
always talk to and I learned to trust in God…

When you thought I wasn’t looking,
I saw you make a meal and take it to a friend who was sick
and I learned that we all have to help take care of each other…

When…