Are you in the process of making a choice? Be careful. Choices are critical. They may appear to be rather small and unattached from other choices we make in life – but don’t be deceived. Our life is defined by the choices we make. The character of my life is reflected in the choices I make. The story of our life is a collection of choices and outcomes. That choice I made that seemed to be a stand-alone decision and unconnected to other things in my life, is actually one of the threads in the tapestry of my life. No choice is insignificant. Once again, the choices you make define who you are.

[Read the rest of this article...]

It’s true – He’s a Holy God. But the God of the Bible is not a hard, callous, unfair, uncaring and ruthless Lord. I’ve been reading through Deuteronomy and you could become distracted by all the rules and regulations laid down for God’s people back then. If you focused only on selective verses, you might close your Bible and say: “I can’t believe it! God was so nit-picky – like, does all that stuff really matter?” But remember, you have grown up in a regulated society. There are societal norms and practices you take for granted because they have always been there. There were no public health nurses to give guidelines for good personal hygiene back then as to what was clean and unclean, sanitary and unsanitary. Inoculations and antibiotics and medicine had not been developed to prevent the spread of infections and disease. The list of things we take for granted to day but was non-existent back then is endless. So make sure you look at the context and the setting of the verses.

[Read the rest of this article...]

Probably the soldiers who had the notorious distinction of driving the nails through His hands into the wood will remember throughout eternity those minutes when they fastened Him to the Cross. They will never forget when they held his hands and positioned them on the cross for the nailing. Did one man hold the nail in place while another swung the hammer? We don’t know. In the middle of the process did they hesitate and did they glance at each other with wide eyes in wonder as they saw how their ‘victim’ fully cooperated with them? How unusual. No struggle. No prying open a clenched fist. No holding the arm in place with their knees as they stretched Him out on the cross.

[Read the rest of this article...]

We were write-offs by nature. Bankrupt and lost to God. We had all fallen short of God's righteous standard. This hopeless condition was the backdrop for Romans 5:6: "For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly." By the death of Christ, we have been reconciled to God. By the obedience of one many have been made righteous. Apart from Christ - an impossibility.

[Read the rest of this article...]

Don’t even let your mind go there. Get alone with God; open your Bible, confess your doubts and pour out your fears in His Presence. Are you wondering about God these days? Perhaps you are feeling the heat of the battle; maybe you’ve taken a direct hit from the enemy or you are bleeding from the shrapnel or from the twisted, sharp debris from a roadside bomb. Maybe you have been stabbed in the heart. It could be a dense fog has rolled in and you can barely see your hand in front of you. You’re feeling vulnerable. Has the night time of Christian experience fallen around you and your heart is pounding in fear over what may be lurking around the corner?

[Read the rest of this article...]

Shocking! Preposterous! The audacity of someone to say they are a saint. It smacks of egotistical thinking. I just did an internet search on 'what constitutes a saint.'

According to the results, a saint is:

• A person who has died and has been declared a saint by canonization;
• A person of exceptional holiness;
• In general, the term Saint refers to someone who is exceptionally virtuous and holy. It can be applied to both the living and the dead and is an acceptable term in most of the world's popular religions. The Saint is held up by the community as an example of how we all should act, and his or her life story is usually recorded for the edification of future generations;
• A person whose virtue and holiness was considered to be proven and who was already with God; a saint was considered capable of interceding with God on behalf of a person who prayed to them, and of performing miracles;
• A dead person upheld by as having lived a virtuous or exemplary life on Earth and granted a special place in Heaven by the Christian Church.
• A person of great holiness and virtue, revered by the Christian Church as having attained an honored place in heaven;
• A born-again believer.
• A saint is a special person who lived a holy life. The life of a saint shows us how to follow Jesus.

[Read the rest of this article...]

“So is this your car? Cool man. Like, what’s with all these CD’s – are you religious or what? Do you actually listen to that stuff?”

“Did you get your ticket to the Black Cat’s concert yet? They’ve got the most awesome drummer.”

“That’s so weird. I could never live like you do. I can’t imagine a weekend without partying, girls and booze. Like where do you get your kicks and hits in life?”

“Did you see the College Dorm movie? It’s crazy man. You got to see it.”

“Are you going to the game Friday night?”

“You got to come up here. I got a job that allows me to work 30 hours a week overtime (time and a half pay) in addition to my regular 40 hours…it’s my get-rich-quick solution. That’s my goal in life.”

“….umm. I guess we’re on a different wave length. I don’t understand you anymore.”

[Read the rest of this article...]

How’s your heart today? Aching with pain? Throbbing with love? Fainting with weakness? Have you been to a spiritual cardiologist lately for a check up? Maybe you have heart problems. Perhaps the chambers of your heart are working at cross purposes. Your physical heart has four rooms/chambers: two upper chambers called the atria and two lower chambers called the ventricles with a left and a right side for both. Each chamber is like a separate room with doors that let blood in and out. As well, there is a wall called the septum that divides the right from the left. If one of those chambers is out of whack or if one of the doors/valves is malfunctioning, you’ve got problems!!

[Read the rest of this article...]

“I know what you mean,” Roy said. “Some of the things that Paul writes about, and yes, Peter too, are so nit-picky and irrelevant to our times.”


Harold chimed in: “Nit-picky is a good word for it. In the bigger scheme of things, some of the stuff in the Epistles are inconsequential and insignificant. Let me tell you, we have bigger things to worry about. I often tell my friends: don’t worry about failing to dot the ‘i’s and missing a few cross bars on the ‘t’s. I’m sure God has bigger things to worry about than whether or not I do this, look like that or go here or there . I love the Lord; really that’s all that matters!”

[Read the rest of this article...]