The MercyMe song from 2014 has become one that I listen to multiple times each week. I suggest you watch it on YouTube, as the visuals are most powerful. Here are a few of the lyrics. No matter the bumps No matter the bruises No matter the scars Still the truth is The cross has…
You will never find recovery apart from your Higher Power. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “At this moment of lust God loses all reality. Satan does not fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God.” Many of us have become what Craig Groeschel calls a “Christian atheist.” We believe in God, but when it…
2 Kings 5:1 reads, “Naaman was commander of the army of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master, and was highly regarded. He was a mighty man of valor. But Naaman had leprosy.” A person with leprosy would not be allowed in public, and everything he touched was considered cursed.…
The average person of 2021 meets as many people in one year as our grandparents met in their lifetimes. With so many ways to connect with others, no one is alone. But many are lonely. That’s where Jesus steps in. He was rightly accused of being a “friend of sinners” (Luke 7:34). And Jesus told…
It was New Year’s Day of 1907. A staggering 8,150 people lined up at the White House to shake the hand of President Theodore Roosevelt. That is a presidential handshaking record that stands to this day. There is no substitute for a physical touch. In the 1990s, two scientists traveled to Romania to examine the…
Thomas Jefferson was a man of amazing brilliance and wide-ranging achievement. Not only was he the author of the Declaration of Independence and president of the United States, he was also a philosopher, diplomat, inventor, architect, and musician. But there was one thing Jefferson wasn’t good at. Managing money. Throughout his life, Thomas Jefferson spent…
Bob was walking across a bridge when he saw a man named Jim, about to jump to his death. “Don’t jump!” said Bob. “Why not?” asked Jim. “I don’t have any friends.” Bob: “Are you religious?” Jim: “Yes.” Bob: “Me too! What denomination?” Jim: “Baptist.” Bob: “Me too! Southern Baptist or American Baptist?” Jim: “Southern.”…
You must learn to stare shame in the face, then walk away. Jay Stringer writes, “My research found that shame was the most consistent key driver of unwanted sexual behavior. Shame convinces us that we are unwanted, and we pursue behavior that confirms it. To find freedom, disarm the power of shame.” Andy Casagrande, the…
There are three keys to sobriety: desperation, surrender, and community. And a part of community is accountability. You need to have someone in your life whom you hold accountable for their sobriety, and you need to be accountable to someone else. The Bible says it like this: “Set the believers an example in speech, in…
An artist asked the gallery owner if there had been any recent interest in his paintings, which were on display. The gallery owner said one man had asked if the paintings would appreciate after the artist’s death. “What did you tell him?” asked the artist. “I told him they would appreciate in value, and he…