The choice to engage an addiction is a decision that is centered in the executive portion of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex. Once we indulge, the experience delivers a powerful stimulus to the nucleus accumbens, a cluster of nerve cells below the cerebral cortex, which releases a flood of dopamine. The neurotransmitter dopamine…
Fear makes false assumptions. Remember the night when the disciples were in the boat with Jesus during a major storm? Some of them were professional fishermen, accustomed to the challenges of the open water, yet they were all scared out of their minds. Finding Jesus asleep, they awoke him with these words: “Teacher, don’t you…
It happens a lot. Your wife has left town. Or you left town. In either case, you find yourself alone. Just you and your phone. What could possibly go wrong? If you find yourself alone for a few days, you need a plan. The Bible says, “A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself from…
At the end of World War II, a submarine came back to dock at Newport News, Virginia. As it came into port, something terrible happened, and the submarine began to sink. The Coast Guard was immediately dispatched to save the crew, and divers swam down to the submarine. As they approached it, they heard a…
Two characters in the Old Testament served as perfect examples of two competing forces: fear and faith. Those men were King Saul and his son Jonathan. Saul let fear dictate his life, while Jonathan was driven by faith. Jonathan spoke with hope in the face of adversity: “Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf”…
The opposite of addiction is connection. Lots of it. Tons and tons of connections. Not just any connection. I’m talking about the kind of connection that makes a difference. Connection that leads to correction. As we used to say in seminary, that’ll preach. Paul said, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your…
I’m going to tell you how to vote. This is election day in the United States. It’s finally here – the day when our national divisions and endless disputes rise to the top. For 24 hours, life stands still. Tonight, when the tallies come, we will learn who we will get to criticize for the…
“For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, which was very bitter. But he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash” (2 Kings 14:26-27). In the spring of 1884, the French artist George Seurat began painting A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. That painting, seven feet tall and ten feet wide,…
As an NBA chaplain, I was blessed to meet Kobe Bryant, one of the all-time greats of professional basketball. Too often, people focus on how his life ended, in a plane crash on January 26, 2020, rather than how his life was lived. It is easy to forget what an incredible player Kobe Bryant was.…
The other day, I was watching my favorite old sitcom, Leave It to Beaver. The guest star was an actor named Wendell Holmes. He played the part of an alcoholic named Andy. Andy looked familiar to me, so I did some research. It turns out that Holmes appeared on four other episodes of Leave It…