"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see". What wonderful words written centuries ago by an English slave-trader who came to know the error of his ways towards the end of his life! If you haven't already...
We humans are all about getting what we deserve. That may entail giving someone else what we feel they deserve as an act of revenge, or it may be feeling entitled to get something that we feel we deserve because of what we’ve done. For me especially with my engineering brain, it’s so...
"As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work - which is by faith" (1 Timothy...
For some reason, as soon as I heard the phrase "straw man", I thought about a scene from a movie. No, I'm not talking about the Scarecrow from "The Wizard of Oz", which is probably what most people would think of. The scene that immediately came to my mind is a rather comical one from...
Warning: This post contains math! I know not everyone loves math like I do, so consider yourself warned. But, you ask, this post is titled “Straw Man,” right? What does that have to do with math? Bear with me and you’ll see.In 1 Kings 7, the furnishings King Solomon’s temple are being...
I have to admit that my initial thought when I heard the term “red herring” for the first time was the Dr. Seuss book “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.” After all, a red herring is a red fish, right?Well, not exactly. In the literary or discussion sense, it refers to diverting...
I was hanging out with my friend Dwight Allen of the radio program, "A Second Look At Sports" on Friday night at a high school basketball game and he asked me if I pray for Tim Tebow. I said, "Yes" but that really got me thinking. Do I really?If you are a follower of Christ or not and...
I know that many of you are old enough to remember the famous O.J. Simpson murder trial. (By the way, I realize that I must be officially included in that "old enough" crowd when I'm using the phrase to refer to something that occurred when I was a freshman in high school). ...
Have you ever felt like someone just didn't like you for reasons completely unknown to you? You never had any problems with them, yet they seemed to work hard to point out your faults and celebrate your failures. Maybe they even sought ways to trip you up. On the flip...
“What can you know about preaching? You’re a woman!”“What can you know about engineering? You’re a woman!” Unfortunately I have heard both of these statements in my life, as I am both an electrical engineer and a preacher. There are many people who have the idea that those two professions,...
Hitting rock bottom. At the end of your rope. Less than nothing left. What do all these things have in common? They will happen to someone who is a prodigal. What is a prodigal? A prodigal is someone who spends wastefully and recklessly. It is a person who has no regard for responsibility,...
One of my favorite board games is Monopoly. My dad, brother, and I played it so much growing up that we have nearly all of the rents memorized, so when we play it together we just hand money around without ever telling each other how much is owed! One of my favorite parts about the game...
“I’ve got a secret, and I’m not telling!!”I’m sure you can picture this phrase being said in an “I’m better than you” voice by kids on an elementary school playground - and perhaps you’ve even said it!We feel special when we know something that somebody else doesn’t - whether it’s as...
Have you ever had a turning point moment in your life? One of those moments where it seems like everything hangs in the balance, and your life could go in two very different directions depending on what happens?Just over 500 years ago, a guy named Martin had one of those very moments....
What happens when you mix flour, sugar, eggs, butter, chocolate chips, (and some other ingredients) together and bake them? You get chocolate chip cookies! When you’re eating your fresh-baked cookies, you can pick out some of the ingredients, like the chocolate chips. But most of the...
This is the “fancy theological word” for perhaps the most perplexing concept, both for Christians and non-Christians alike - why is there evil in the world, if God is so loving? If God is good and He created the world, how can we reconcile the presence of evil and suffering in the world?...
Power. The world seems to revolve around it, doesn’t it? There’s political power, power in relationships, the power of physical strength, and even electrical power that all make the world go around. I can think of so many cartoons I watched as a kid that were all about power - usually...
Who is the smartest person you know? I’m sure everyone has one of those people in their lives who just seems to know everything - and I mean everything, from the latest sports scores, to random trivia, maybe even to math and science. I know a few such people, and their knowledge always...
"Will I go to heaven?"That is probably the most common question people ask regarding what’s after this world. And on the heels of that question, the next is, "How do I know for sure?"Imagine a world where everyone will go to heaven, guaranteed and that there is absolutely no question...
Have you ever run into something that is both awesome and annoying at the same time? Omnipresence is one of those things. It’s a word that we humans try and use to describe an indescribable God. It is both awesome and annoying that we cannot fully describe God. It is awesome because God...
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6:9 - 10In my opinion, my father is a great...
Recently, my oldest son (Who is 12 years old) and I returned from his “Rite of Passage” into manhood trip. We did many things up in northern Minnesota at Wilderness North.One thing I was hoping to do with him and hopefully teach him while we were there was how to maneuver a canoe. When...
My oldest son, Ezra turned 12 years old last year. When my son was about 3 years old my wife and I decided that after each of our children turned 12 years old that I would take them on a trip that year for a “rite of passage” into adulthood. We weren’t sure what this would all entail...
Early on in ministering to youth and their families, I had a decision to make. When a conflict would arise with a parent and their child about how or what I was teaching, how would I respond?Those of us who are in youth ministry, teaching, or other occupations that involve the children...
“You stole our land, and I hate white people! Leave us alone!” These words were quite a rude awakening to hear as the leader of our mission trip to minister to the homeless in Toronto, Canada. I can only imagine what the high school students thought who were with me. The man...
Due to the current state of the economy in the United States, in which funding seems to be drying up all over the country, many churches and ministries are trying to find places to cut spending. One area that churches seem to cut are youth group mission trips.But I want to stress the...
