On a recent evening walk, I noticed a neighbor’s teenager gearing up for a run. He tied his shoelaces then placed a strange contraption over his mouth and nose that reminded me of the frightening mask Hannibal Lecter wore in Silence of the Lambs. When the teenager rose after stretching, I couldn’t contain my curiosity. “Why’re you wearing that on your face? Is it for warming up the air?” I live in Florida, and a recent cold front (don’t laugh, northerners) dropped temperatures to the low forties at night. For those who reside in the Sunshine State, this is cold. He pulled off the mask ... Read the Post
The Whisper that Changed My Life
"He said to his disciples, 'The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields'" (Matthew 9:37-38 NLT). I woke up feeling the cool breeze of the Guatemalan morning. It was refreshing as my heart had been wrecked beyond what I could imagine the days previous. Walking around the Guatemala City Dump community the day before had left me feeling overwhelmed. My mind continually thought, What are you doing here? This is too much. You cannot make a difference. One person cannot influence this much ... Read the Post
Mouse Shoulder
A few months ago, I began to feel radiating pain up the right side of my back and neck and down my right shoulder all the way to my right index finger. The pain became so unbearable that even when I sat at the dinner table, the paralyzing ache caused my right arm to go limp. I didn’t know what caused the inflammation until I tried to use my computer mousepad. Simply lifting my arm to touch the pad sent a penetrating sting across the right side of my upper body. Although I do enjoy lifting weights, I knew this injury was not caused from a bodybuilding injury. It had to be something subtler ... Read the Post
The God Who Foreshadows
The story of Jesus’s visit to the temple as a 12-year-old has always intrigued me. Why? Because it is a seemingly unusual inclusion. It’s the only story we have of Jesus’s boyhood following His birth and it’s only transcribed in one of the four Gospels—Luke. To be sure, it’s a great story. One that every parent can empathize with. Jesus’s family goes to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. Afterwards, His parents head home and inadvertently leave Jesus behind. They travel for a day before realizing He isn’t with them. Then they return to Jerusalem and spend a day searching. They find ... Read the Post
How Do You Spell Faith?
Much of my younger life was spent running from God rather than running to Him. At age 46, I finally reached a place of brokenness that left me crying out for God’s mercy and grace. And He lovingly lifted me out of that dark place and into His light. Over the next several years, God began to tear down the walls of lies that had kept me from Him and smoothed off most of the very rough edges of my past. Once God got hold of my life, I couldn’t get enough of learning more and seeking to grow closer to Him. I looked at almost 50 years of what I considered wasted time, (although God never wastes ... Read the Post