Stand Firm! Hold On!
A Bible reading plan can be a good thing or a bad thing. Any plan can become legalistic, laborious and will end up being tedious if it becomes the main thing or an end in itself. This can happen very…
Joshua For My Grandchildren
I realize that everyone is different, but on our family vacations we like to do very little. We bring books to read, play golf a few times, but most of all Rita and I enjoy having our devotions together...something we…
Proceed Directly to His Council Chamber
I had the luxury of spending the whole morning in my study today. I alerted staff and family and turned off my cell phone. And, no surprise, the Lord was already in the study waiting for me. One of my…
Change You Can Count On
There has been a lot of rhetoric in the political arena over the last few years about change. And, as you would have guessed, there is no shortage of opinions about whether the changes have been good or bad: everyone…
Nothing Taken For Granted
God is sovereign! This will always be true and a source of great comfort to us all. We are not in charge. He is! But it doesn’t mean our lives are on autopilot, and that we can push back our…
Divine Amnesia
"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:18 & 19 One of the most wonderful attributes of…
Strength, Fortress, Refuge, Love
Tuesday was a long day for me… fifteen hours of study, administration, meetings and some tough e-mails and phone calls. But I am not complaining. It was a great day also, ending in our weekly prayer meeting, including the graduation…
Christmas Season Focus
You've heard of Mary and Martha, the two women in Luke's Gospel, 10:38-42 who invited Jesus over for supper. Martha was a regular Martha Stewart. She prepped, cleaned and flew around the house at a brisk pace, trying to make…
Not In Our House
With our congregation as diverse as Westgate Chapel, I wrestled with what our proper response should be this past Sunday to the volatile rhetoric on both sides of several divisive issues polarizing our nation right now, from Ferguson, Missouri to…
We Are Not Divided
I am sitting in my study on a rainy fall Seattle morning. It’s the morning after the grand jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri has poured gasoline on racial tensions in America. Social media is on fire with the voices of…