There are fundamental factors to success in addiction recovery. Dr. Denise Fournier, professor at Nova Southeastern University, has identified six such factors. It is important to follow the formula that has always worked. That includes a commitment to each of these six factors. We need the persistence of Job: “My feet have closely followed his…
In Mark 5 we read the story of Jesus healing the woman with the issue of blood. She risked everything by crowding her way to Jesus. Her reward? She was healed physically. But there is much more to the story. Jesus told her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you” (Mark 5:34). That was the only…
Have you ever been in a store that posts numerous signs that read, “Break it and you pay for it”? These signs are often found in stores which sell a lot of glass, pottery, or other breakable objects. We tend to walk around very carefully, to make sure we don’t touch anything. No one wants…
“No one would distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise” (Ezra 3:13). Noise is a problem – a growing problem. Let’s talk about noise. Twenty-nine percent of the U.S. population is exposed to excessive transportation noise, as compared to just four percent…
God – the hound of heaven – is coming for you. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). At the Last Supper, Jesus reminded his disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that…
In July 2018, Angela Hernandez was driving down Highway 1, headed to Southern California in her SUV, when a small animal crossed the road. Hernandez swerved to miss it, and in doing so, shot her SUV off the road and off a cliff, tumbling 200 feet to a desolate, rocky beach. She had a brain…
1 Samuel 3:19 “And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him.” Is there anything better that we could ever pray for our children or grandchildren than that? That as our children grow, the Lord would be with them? Nothing matters more than the abiding presence of God. In his classic work, Experiencing the Presence…
Confederate general Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson had an unwavering confidence in the plan and protection of God. Once, during a battle, he sat down to write out a message to send to a subordinate. A Union cannonball struck a large oak tree above where he sat, showering him with bark and wood chips. He brushed off…
On June 18, 2009, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford went missing. For four days, nobody knew where he was. Not his staff, his security detail, or even his wife or children. Finally, on June 22, his spokesman announced that Sanford was hiking the Appalachian Trail, a public trekking route that has little capacity for outside…
Our appetites can enslave us. This happened to Esau. One day he came home so hungry that he promised his birthright to his younger brother in exchange for a bowl of porridge. We are warned, “Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for…