Mark Twain once offered this advice on raising teenagers, “When a child turns 12 he should be kept in a barrel and fed through a hole, until he reaches 16… at which time you should plug the hole.” As a parent of three teenagers and one who has just passed through those teen years, I …
Habakkuk is a strange book of the Bible. Written after the exile, the prophet begins by calling God to action. The world seems to be falling apart. Society is full of violence and injustice. The wicked are winning, good and godly people are disappearing. Habakkuk can’t understand why God isn’t doing something. Why does God …
There was a media uproar over the weekend about a certain American televangelist who was fund raising in order to buy himself a sixty-five million dollar private jet. Yes, you read that correctly, sixty-five (65) million dollars. You see, the ‘man-of-God’ has to travel a lot. He’s in demand around the world and it would …
“For the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 We all have troubles and trials that wear away at us. There are days we would prefer to stay in bed and avoid the world around us. Life is full of sorrow and conflict. But we are told that our strength comes from the ‘joy of …
If you have a cell phone, email account or use the internet then you are being watched. Your movements, conversations and personal information are being recorded and stored by any number of computers. We have been warned about this but sometimes it still comes as a shock when people find out that information sent out …
I get a lot of invitations and offers. People running conferences and seminars fill my inbox with glowing information about how their event can change my life. I get invited to meetings where the organizers want to introduce a product that I won’t be able to live without. I’m asked to try out new software …
I was the quiet kid in class, the one who didn’t like to raise his hand. I never wanted to volunteer an answer in case I was wrong. But what was worse was that I never wanted to ask a question for clarification even when I didn’t understand what the teacher was saying. I just …
What’s the strangest thing that has ever happened to you at church? I bet you’d have a hard time beating Eutychus’ story. The Apostle Paul was in Troas for a week of special meetings. Being a preacher Paul kept on talking until it was close to midnight. The room was lit with oil lamps which …
Did you hear about the boy who got an invoice for missing a birthday party? Yep, it’s a true story. Five year old Alex had agreed to attend Charlie’s party last weekend at a local ski hill. But on the day of the party decided he would rather go to visit his grandparents. So Charlie’s …
A week ago was the terrorist attack on Paris. It was followed by two days of tension and more violence. After a march for unity on Sunday people are finding it difficult to settle back into old routines. The French government has deployed ten thousand troops to provide extra security. Across Europe there are growing …