Things aren’t always what they appear. Did you know that Minnesota, the “land of 10,000 lakes,” actually has about 12,000 lakes? Meanwhile, neighboring Wisconsin has 15,000 lakes. Here are some other things you may not have realized. There are a lot of things that may surprise you, even in the area of sex and addiction.…
One night, at the dinner table, the wife told her husband, “I remember when we were first married, you always took the smallest piece of steak and left me the largest piece. Now that we’ve been married for 25 years, you always take the larger piece of steak. You don’t love me anymore!” Her husband…
One day Jesus encountered a blind man named Bartimaeus. Then he asked Bart what seemed to be a really strange question. “What is it that you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51). The man’s need was pretty obvious. He wanted to regain his sight. But Jesus didn’t put words in his mouth; he…
You are special. We all are. C.S. Lewis wrote, “You have never talked to a mere mortal.” In the eyes of the Creator, you aren’t a “mere” anything. In December, 1968, Apollo 8 orbited the moon ten times, looking for the perfect landing spot for a future mission. Astronaut Bill Anders took a picture of…
The French poet Jacques Reda had a habit of walking the streets of Paris with the intention of seeing something new every day. That is how he renewed his passion for the city he loved. It is important to renew your passion for the things you see every day. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, “Earth’s crammed…
There are two kinds of people in the world – those who enter a crowded room thinking, “Here I am!” And those who enter a room thinking, “Here you are!” Which person are you? This matters because our recovery is never complete until we help someone else with their recovery. We must learn to shift…
Too many of us get too offended by too many people too much of the time. And that’s a problem, because when we are offended, we become stuck in our recovery. Living in “offended” mode is indicative of a lack of forgiveness, and when you don’t forgive someone, you are letting those who hurt you…
Here’s the problem with anxiety. It always overestimates our problems and underestimates our resources. Jesus said, “Do not worry about your life” (Matthew 6:25. He followed that up with, “Do not worry about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34). Clearly, Jesus was opposed to anxiety. In some cases, anxiety must be treated clinically. But in most cases, we…
Day 1 – A man walked down a street and fell in a hole. Day 2 – The man walked down the street, saw the hole, but slipped into the hole. Day 3 – The man walked down the street, tried to avoid the hole, but was bumped by someone else and stumbled into the…
In their book, The Power of Moments, Chip and Dan Health describe a fascinating experiment in which participants agreed to subject themselves to painful trials. First, they submerged their hands into a bucket filled with cold, 57-degree water for 60 seconds. In the second trial, the time was increased by 30 seconds. For the first…