Church and Marriage

Church is good for your marriage. Brian Hollar, an Associate Professor at Marymount University, wrote, “For nearly fifty years, people who attend church regularly marry at much higher rates and, for a majority of the population, those who attend church frequently also divorce at lower rates than the rest of the population.” One study found…

Bridger Wilderness Park

The beautiful Bridger Wilderness Park in Wyoming offers amazing hikes and views. But for some people, every day is just another opportunity to complain. The park has suggestion boxes scattered throughout, inviting hikers to write down any concerns or complaints they may have. Here are a couple of recent comments they received in the boxes:…

352 Times a Day

It’s time to put down your phone! The average person checks his phone 352 times a day. I did the math. Assuming we sleep eight hours a day, this means we are looking at our phones once every three minutes for the other 16 hours of the day. And this is a problem. At the…

Help Yourself

If you want to grow your own recovery, become a sponsor. Encourage a newcomer. Help someone else get started. In short, be like Jesus. “The Son of man came, not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). You will never go further in your…

Lassie Gets It

A few years ago, a guy in my 12-step group confessed his relapse.  His story went something like this: “My wife was out of town, so I went out with some friends. We had a few drinks, then we went to a movie with a lot of sex scenes. When I got home, I stayed…

Speak Up!

Too few of us are willing to speak up for truth. According to Dr. Phil, the number of people unwilling to speak up for what they believe has tripled in the last 75 years. There are three times when you need to speak up. The words you use matter – a lot. The degree to…

Under the Hood

My first car was a 1966 Mercury S-55 red convertible. The car was longer than some aircraft carriers. It had a 448 engine which was so loud that my car was always heard before it was seen. My friends were impressed with the roar of the engine, and naturally assumed the car was a rocket…

Wile E. Coyote

In 1949, Looney Tunes debuted the iconic character, Wile E. Coyote. As a child, I loved to watch his antics on television every Saturday morning. His signature move was to run off a high cliff, and then, while somehow suspended in mid-air, he would continue running. But he was going nowhere. I spend too much…

A Miracle Kick

Jake Bates was a soccer player in Tomball, Texas. He played soccer for two years at the University of Central Arkansas, until he became a kicker for the football team. Being a backup player, he never saw the field. So he transferred to Texas State University. Again, he was the backup kicker, and never kicked…

Start Singing!

Singing is good for you. The exception is in Sarasota, Florida, where you can get arrested for singing in public while wearing a bathing suit. But for the rest of us, it may be time to start singing.  We know the Bible is pro-singing. It reads, “Come, let us sing praise to the Lord! Let…