My heart was profoundly moved when I met Jim at a men's retreat not long ago. He had a ready smile and seemed about my age. He was never without his baseball cap for a reason I found out later. During the course of the retreat I had several conversations with Jim. He...
Feeling inspired or expired? Which word best describes how you feel about your midlife and beyond years? We're used to everything having an expiration date these days. Even a sealed bottle of pure water has a date when it expires! A close friend told me recently his...
Did you know that the longest tennis match in history lasted more than eleven hours and scored a combined total of nine hundred and eighty points? It took place over three days in 2010 at Wimbledon, England between John Isner of the United States and Nicolas Mahut...
There is a fascinating story behind the sculpting of the Statue of David by Michelangelo. Did you know that the Statue of David was made out of a flawed piece of marble? An earlier artist had begun work on it 25 years before, but soon quit stating the the marble was...
Comparisons can be helpful. I heard an interesting one recently. The pastor was talking about the difficult trials we experience on our life's journey. The Bible refers to them as "momentary light afflictions" (2 Cor. 4:17). He said that while the trials seem huge to...
Think of the vastness of the universe with its trillions of galaxies, stars, planets, black holes and exploding energy. Then micro-size it down to this tiny planet called Earth. Even here, it's packed with billions of people, nations, governments, wars, and more...
What do you see in your future? This question implies that you are looking forward into your future, not in the past through the rear view mirror. That's an important distinction. The rear view mirror often distorts what took place. Regrets and disappointments can...
The call came unexpectedly in the morning announcing that my dad had hours to live. I was shocked. I had spoken to him on the phone the night before in the hospital. His voice was weak and somewhat strained due to a long battle with pancreatic cancer. But I had no...
I had a friend pose the following question to me: "Can you honestly pray to God saying that you'll do anything and go anywhere for Him no matter what?" He said that it had taken him a long time to get to that place. But he could honestly mean it now. I was...
Do you tend to play it safe and avoid risk? I know I do. It's something I'm trying to change. I'm not talking about common sense things like not wearing a helmet when riding a motorcycle or doing a cannonball off the roof of your house into a pool. I referring to...