A man in prison ministry told me an alarming story at a recent conference. For Mother’s Day, he offered Mother’s Day cards to each of the inmates, which they could use to send a note to their mothers. About 700 inmates did so. For Father’s Day, just one month later, he made the same offer.…
If your husband or wife has been unfaithful; if they have been caught in a web of addiction, you have a decision to make. Stay or leave? Your spouse’s infidelity has opened the door for you to pick Door #1 or Door #2 with a clear conscience. No one can fault you if you decide…
In the iconic sitcom, I Love Lucy, Lucy Ricardo said to her husband Ricky, “Ever since we said ‘I do,’ there are so many things we don’t.” Nothing is easier to do than drift apart as a married couple. Other interests and responsibilities can crowd out the relationship that matters most, and we put our…
Be creative with your recovery. Have you ever considered that before? I have embraced the basics of recovery for years, checking every box. Go to meetings? Check. Work the steps? Check. Get a sponsor? Check. Become a sponsor? Check. Pray daily? Check. Make calls? Check. But it can become easy to fall into a rut.…
I share the same birthday with one of baseball’s all-time colorful players – 50 years apart. Dizzy Dean played 13 seasons of Big League ball, with a WW2 mixed in. A four-time all-star, World Series champion, and league MVP, Dean amassed 150 wins to go along with a career ERA of just 3.02. But it…
It happened on this date in 1964. The British Invasion continued on the Ed Sullivan Show. Following the appearance of the more clean-cut Beatles, the Rolling Stones showed up. Their loud music, heavy beat, and anti-establishment look certainly caught poor Ed off guard. They were not what he was expecting. Life is full of false…
Faith is an indispensable element of successful recovery. Corrie ten Boom said this about faith: “Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.” And Jesus promised, “Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you ask in faith” (Matthew 21:22). The role of faith in recovery has now been recognized by…
A young boy went into a grocery store and asked for laundry detergent. The grocer asked, “Is this for your clothes?” “No,” said the boy. “It’s for my dog.” The grocer said, “This stuff isn’t made for dogs. It could kill him.” The boy took the detergent anyway. A few days later, he returned to…
A close friend runs the emergency room at a Midwest hospital. He recently told me about a 91-year-old man who came to the ER, not because he was sick, but because his wife was out of town. He didn’t want to spend the weekend alone. Imagine that – a man who would rather spend the…
Let’s talk about secrets. Oswald Chambers wrote, “We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation.” Dr. Grant Brenner writes about the effects of secrets on our well-being. “Secrecy reduces well-being, while sharing can increase satisfaction. Keeping secrets takes work and is fatiguing. Secrets make us lonely and sad. They…