Dealing With Loss During the Holidays

My Dad loved to read. He was a picky reader and tended to stick to action books, mostly westerns. Of those, his favorite author was Louis L’Amour. He had most all of L’Amour’s books and read them over and over. I now have his yellowing and tattered collection of paperbacks. I try once a year […]

Practical Steps To Reduce Daily Anxiety

Life is often unpredictable. Anxiety is what we feel when the uncertainty of life becomes overwhelming. Our minds frantically bounce from one thought to the next trying to fix, repair, predict, prepare, relate, or overcome. As our inability to control everything becomes apparent, so does our discomfort. Soon the headaches, backaches, or stomach pains set […]

Facing The Unknown

How do we face an unknown future? When the people of Israel escaped their slave existence in Egypt, their challenges had just begun. There had been 70 people who initially travelled to Egypt to escape the ravages of a seven year long famine. Those were the sons of the man Israel (Jacob) and their families. […]

Unsolvable Problems and the Presence of God

It’s been over a decade, but I still remember one particular trip to my optometrist. I sat in the waiting room, flipping through outdated magazines. Across the room from me sat a teenager with special needs and an older man who appeared to be his grandfather. The younger man was engrossed in a puzzle book, […]

Being Carried Downstream

The Impact of God's Love

God loves you. That’s probably the most used phrase in all of Christian history. To be fair, it’s a central truth in much of Jesus’ teachings, and you would be hard pressed to find a more valuable phrase in all of the Bible.  Like many popular phrases however, this tiny declaration has been used so […]

Thoughts of Mom

Lives on the Periphery

She normally had the beach to herself. She always woke up long before daylight, a habit honed from necessity rather than preference. While others slept, she enjoyed the calm before the chaos of the day began. Long before the sunburns and the sandcastles, before the frisbees flew and kites fluttered, she walked, scanning the Atlantic […]

Constructing Your Rule of Life

Determining The Difference Between Urgent and Important

Dwight D. Eisenhower was a five star general, and served as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe during World War 2.  He later became President of the United States and served during a tumultuous time in our history as a nation. If anyone knew something about handling time effectively it was […]

When Anxiety Takes Control

3 Ways To Find Relief

Life is unpredictable. When the twists and turns are mild the unexpected can be pleasant, but sometimes our lives are changed dramatically in ways we couldn’t have imagined. When that happens, just making it through the day becomes a challenge. Anxiety is what we feel when the uncertainty of life becomes overwhelming. Our minds frantically […]

Grief During The Holidays

A Short Video on Coping With Grief During Christmas

Grief is painful any time of the year, but the holidays can be especially difficult. I recorded a video for our church that discusses the sorts of emotions and thoughts you may be dealing with this Christmas. I hope that it will help you process your grief in a healing and redemptive way. Please feel […]