Popcorn hasn’t always been a snack in movie theaters. Theaters actually hated popcorn in the beginning. Silent films require a literate audience, focused on the movie. So upscale movie theaters banned food during the show – especially popcorn. They demanded full concentration from theater attendees. Now, everyone eats popcorn in a movie theater. We have…
I’ve heard a lot of successful strategies for how to do well in recovery. But there is one line I have never heard. “I struggled with my sobriety until I started spending more time on social media.” In my latest book, Recovery Rules, I suggest 100 simple truisms that can enhance your recovery. Here’s Rule…
Recently, I read that in a fight, a tiger beats a lion every time. But when it’s five tigers versus five lions, the lions win. Why? Because they know how to fight together. The Scripture teaches, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, that all of you agree with one another in what you say…
American songwriter Irving Berlin was a Jewish immigrant from Russia who came to America to escape religious persecution. He loved his new country and its freedom, and while serving in WWI he expressed that love in a song he wrote as a prayer. He did not publish the song, however, but tucked it away with…
As a senior pastor, I grew my personal library to over 2,000 books. My library was like a lot of people I know. I had a lot of books, but I had not read them all. I had more resources at my fingertips than I ever used. In recovery, you have all you need to…
One person can make a big difference. Jadav Payeng dedicated his life to planting a forest. What resulted was a wooded area spanning 1,360 acres. Edward Jenner developed the smallpox vaccine, which eradicated an illness that had claimed 500 million lives. In the 15th century, Johannes Gutenberg created the printing press. One person can make…
A dog bit a man, and it was determined that the dog had rabies. When his doctor told the man the news, he sat down and began to write a list of names. “What are you writing?” asked the doctor. The man responded, “I’m making a list of all the people I want to bite.”…
Who will win the presidential election in about four months? Perhaps history gives us a hint. In the last 31 presidential elections, on average, the winner was 1.2 inches taller than the loser. And our presidents, over that time span, have been an average of 4.5 inches taller than men in general. We all agree,…
“Seek the Lord while he may be found” (Isaiah 55:6). Isaiah had connected with God and been given a peek into what was to come. The closeness he had experienced with God undoubtedly caused him to want others to experience him intimately, too. Through Isaiah, the Lord told his people to seek him with their…
We all want to be someone else. In the process, we forget who really are. Philosopher Dolly Parton said, “I’m not offended by blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb. I also know I’m not blonde.” The old American poet, E.E. Cummings, wrote, “The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world where…