God’s ways are not our ways, God’s thoughts not our thoughts, God’s timing not our timing. I was scheduled to fly to Honduras today. When I got to the check-in counter a few minutes before 5 AM this morning the agent told me there was no way to get from Tulsa to Tegucigalpa today due …
Category Archives: Christian living
The Simple Life–Little Things
As I grow older I appreciate more and more the importance of these words: Keep Life Simple. I have had the freedom through much of my life to select my priorities and to live life pretty much on my own schedule–both during my years in ministry and later in the university. Now in my role …
A Good Day
I often evaluate the days of my life with the phrase, “It was a good day.” Yesterday was a good day. What makes a good day? Each day is different, unique, with new challenges and new opportunities. The newness of each day reflects God’s creative genius as we experience the world; newness also describes the …
Saturday “Newness”
My word for today: New! Life is new today! Each day is a new gift from God, a day never before seen or experienced, with new opportunities, new challenges, new abundance, and new evidences of God’s presence and power. Today life is new because Jan and I are in our new house in Tulsa. Our …
Little Things
I am reminded almost daily that life is lived in the little things, not in the big spectacular splashes. Big projects may grab attention, but much of what moves us forward happens in small, unnoticed, almost invisible ways. Yesterday provided me a good reminder that investing life in things that can ultimately matter and make …
Discipleship Simplified
We have misidentified discipleship. We have distinguished being a Christian and being a disciple. We have made it two decisions instead of one. The decision to become a Christian is the same as the decision to become a disciple (follower of Jesus). Our tendency toward two distinct decisions has had disastrous consequences. People want to …
Fruit is Natural–Not Forced
Galatians 5 contains a list of the fruits of the Spirit–love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control. The text contrasts works of the flesh with fruits of the Spirit. Some, because of this contrast (unconsciously and unintentionally) treat the “fruits” of the Spirit more as “works” of the Spirit. But the fruits …
A Barnabas Spirit
We give thanks to the Lord for those persons who continually refresh our spirits. Such people are often said to have a Barnabas spirit. Sunday evening, Mitch Wilburn described Jan and me as Barnabas people. We want to be that kind of Christians–and Mitch was reflecting his own Barnabas spirit in his words. The name …
A Book About Your Life?
Just thinking…. If a book were written about your life, would anyone want to read it? Who would want to read it? Why?
What is your life?
The question of the title comes from James 4. James writes that our life is a little vapor that appears for a time. If you were to describe your life in one word, what would that word be?