Mark and Beth Denison, married for 36 years, launched There’s Still Hope as a national movement to call men and women into lives of sexual integrity. Their ministry offers 90-day recovery plans for addicts and one-on-one and group coaching for addicts and their spouses. TSH also produces resources for pastors and churches to confront the porn epidemic that is destroying so many lives. Dr. Denison was a senior pastor for over 30 years, NBA chaplain, and board chairman at Houston Baptist University three times. With a Master’s Degree in Addiction Recovery, Mark is a certified PSAP and active member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. Mark has written four books on recovery: Porn in the Pew, 365 Days to Sexual Integrity, A 90-Day Recovery Guide, and 40 Days to Porn-Free Living. His latest book, Jesus on the 12 Steps, will be released later this year.

Take a Breath

Take a breath. Few things are more mundane than breathing, yet few things are more miraculous. With every breath, we inhale half a liter of air, which contains 12.5 sextillion molecules. That’s more molecules than all the sand on all the seashores on planet Earth, including sandcastles. Take another breath. The surface area of your…

Copernican Revolution

“When you move past self, life is simpler and less stressful.” (Tom Rath, It’s Not About You) In 1543, the Polish polymath Nicolaus Copernicus published a book that identified the sun as the center of our solar system. Until that point, it was widely assumed that everything in the universe revolved around the earth. Copernicus’s…

Better than Grace or Truth

Grace is great, but it’s not enough. Truth is wonderful, but it, too, is not enough. Let me explain. Grace minus truth is all heart and no head. Truth without grace is all head and no heart. Grace says, “I’ll forgive you, no matter what.” Truth says, “I’ll be honest with you, no matter what.”…

Windshield Wipers

Mary Elizabeth Anderson was born on February 19, 1866, just after the conclusion of the Civil War. There was nothing about her life to suggest that Mary would become an eventual member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame.  But Mary came up with a fresh idea. That idea was birthed on a trip on…

A Game You Can’t Win

During the days of King Saul, the Israelites sang a song that got Saul’s goat: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7).  Every time that song played on Spotify, it provoked a spirit of jealousy within Saul. “They credit David with tens of thousands and me with only…

A Necessary Piece

“Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined” (Daniel 11:35). Your stumbling ways never catch God off guard. In fact, he will use them – every time. The Hebrew word used for “refined,” in our verse, means to complete or perfect. God will make you better, stronger, healthier, and more sober…

Questions

We don’t ask enough questions. We prefer to give answers instead. But it hasn’t always been that way. As children, we ask 125 questions a day. By adulthood, that number dwindles to six. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we lose 119 questions per day. That’s too bad because you can learn something from everyone you…

How to Treat a Man

“Treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be, and he will become as he can and should be.”     – Adapted from Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, William Meister’s Apprenticeship  Everyone you know has fallen short. In fact, you probably know someone who…

It’s What You Can’t See

Paul and Barbabas set out on their first missionary journey. Then we read this: “They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul…

Wimpy

Do you remember Wimpy, a character from the popular Popeye cartoon? Wimpy always wanted a hamburger. In one cartoon, he said, “I’ll gladly pay you for a hamburger tomorrow if I can have it today.”  That is the voice of an addict. We want deferred payment. “I’ll take a little pleasure today, as long as…