Surrounded by the barrage of social media and the evolution in the ways and means by which people can both connect with and contact people, it is not surprising that old and reliable relationship terms like “Friends” are being redefined. You decide, is this following and traditional definition of Friends still true and accurate of…

“I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I’m a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to…

Today, I pondered the brilliance of board games. When I was young I played them for fun; in my teens it was to win; and now I play to learn. What’s amazing about board games is that players make choices and can experience the results of those choices in a fast-paced play environment. When I…

In the iconic film “Glengarry Glen Ross,” we all learned that “Coffee” is for closers. We learned the ABC’s of selling–Always Be Closing–and quite a few not-so-nice four letter words. Many sales people and their sales managers fancy themselves as great ‘closers’ and take great pride in being labeled as a good “closer”. If they…

I have been watching It’s a Wonderful Life annually since 1985: first, with a bunch of guys in the foyer of my college fraternity, and now with my wife and four children. We turn off all the lights except for the Christmas tree, snack on popcorn, and make peppermint ice cream sundaes. The film never…

On the grand stage of American politics, as we are introduced to all candidates running for president, each one of us, in the very first minutes, are asking ourselves that first discerning question, “Why are they running for president?” If they don’t tell us, we deduct the answer from our own observations. If they do…

This is the beginning of a very intense political season in the United States with 17 presidential candidates on the Republican side and another 4 or 5 on the growing Democrat side. These 20+ candidates are all rivaling each other for the ultimate single position of becoming the President of the United States. In the…

“Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: ‘Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being…

When do you most experience God being “near you”? Numbers 16 gives a powerful and unusual understanding of God’s “nearness”. Korah, along with 250 community leaders, came against Moses’ leadership. They were not content with the role God had given them… and even wanted the priesthood of Aaron. Four times in the text… God’s “nearness”…