Have you ever gone through a death experience?  Someone you love passed away suddenly, or over a prolonged, agonizing season of time?  Either way, it felt, and maybe still feels like the sorrow you’ve experienced is an endless, dark valley.  You might have had a career altering episode where years of hard work are wiped out in an unforeseen, sudden ending.  Anybody that’s gone through a divorce kn...

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It is literally impossible to put God in a box of any kind.  God will not be limited to or reduced by our fragile and odd beliefs.  That being said though, you can completely limit and diminish God’s saving, helping, miracle-working effectiveness in your life.  Jesus’ relatives and neighbors from His hometown of Nazareth did it to themselves.  Look at Matthew 13:58.  “And He did not do many works ...

I’ve learned that a big part of changing culture is changing the language.  Before Starbucks came on the scene in the 90’s coffee was basically, well ... just coffee.  People liked it and ordered it often, but it was pretty simple, and really cheap.  You could get a coffee black, or a coffee with cream, or you could get really daring and add sugar.  I remember as a kid hearing people order a doubl...

It’s amazing the way our minds can justify our actions.  I remember my grandmother telling me as a boy “Just one plum”, as I headed toward her pantry.  In my mind I reasoned, “They’re kind of small and besides, I’m helping her with the chores, and I need to keep my strength up.”  I’ve never forgot that reasoning process because an hour later when I was bent over the toilet, sick as a dog, all that...