Twenty Random Things I’m Thankful For in 2012
I love Thanksgiving. Here are twenty random things in no certain order that I’m thankful for: 1) I’m thankful for Angela, my beautiful wife of ten years (tomorrow is my anniversary). I’m the luckiest man alive. But more on that tomorrow. 2) I’m thankful for my four children, Grace, Daniel, Emma, Lily. Each is so […]
Shouldn’t Gratitude Should Be Our First Language?
Yeah, yeah, of course we’re supposed to be thankful on Thanksgiving. But it occurs to me that we’re not very good at this. By we, I don’t mean the editorial “we” by which I’m pointing the finger at the rest of Americans for being ungrateful while I ignore my own ingratitude. By we I don’t […]
10 Things I’m Thankful for in 2011
Today is Thanksgiving. This year (2011) I have much to be thankful for. I could fill pages. But I distilled them down to ten: Nine years of marriage to a beautiful and godly woman, Angela who has faithfully stood with me in ministry, trains our children in the Lord every day, and enjoys watching crime […]
Why We Need Music
I once heard a well-meaning Christian leader say something like this, “Ahh, music is so overrated. You don’t need music. If you were stranded on an island, you would get along fine without music.” I actually believed him for a time and used to think this. But then, when I faced some of my darkest […]
When Gratitude is Tested
I wrote about the difficulty of gratitude in hard times for my weekly Crosswalk devotional. Here’s an excerpt: We can only summon the strength to gratitude when we understand the goodness of a sovereign God. James reminds us that God uses our trials to shape our character, so that the perfect life of Christ is […]
Dads Should Lead on Thanksgiving
In the last few years, the Thanksgiving holiday has slowly been redefined by overeating, crank in-laws, lots of NFL football, and early Christmas sales. Now, I enjoy all of those things (yes, even the cranky in-laws). But if we are not careful, we can allow a grand moment for worship and thanks to pass us […]
Resetting our Gratitude Meter
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God […]
Thank God for the President
1 Timothy 2:1-2 Sometimes I don’t like the Bible. That might shock, since I’m a pastor, Christian author, and speaker. But sometimes I don’t like the Bible. What I mean by that is this. Sometimes I read the Bible and nod my head and love what it is saying to me. But other times I […]