THE BIBLE doesn’t try to paint its heroes as anything but real people with real flaws. Consequently, Abraham becomes real, not despite his frailties, but because of them. Like all real people, he had weaknesses.
Read MoreCategory Archives: Parenting
Hold Everything Loosely
Without realizing it, by worshiping God during his woes, Job is saying, “In your face, Lucifer! I never set my affections on these things in the first place.
Read MoreTake Heart
The king’s heart is like mush, like soft putty, or we could say like Play-Doh in the hands of the Lord. Just for a moment imagine another name in that proverb in place of “the king.” Someone who is giving you grief perhaps.
Read MoreA Silent Interlude
Between chapters four and five of this ancient book of Esther, there’s a break in time. It’s a space of suspense when we don’t know what is happening. Nothing is recorded for us to read.
Read MoreCultivating Character
Now, before you frown and entertain thoughts of self-righteousness, thinking that you would never have responded like that, remember, you’re surrounded by friends in a safe and unthreatened environment.
Read MoreGod’s Directions
Judah put it on the line. “You can’t continue to delay and deny the situation. I’ll take responsibility for Benjamin’s life. If anything happens to him, I will bear the consequences for the rest of my days. Come on, Dad, let’s cooperate.”
Read MoreNo Island of Second Chance
We cannot change the past . . . and that includes the way we reared our children. All of us—yes, every parent I have ever met—would love to step into the time tunnel and return to the Island of Second Chance. We would give anything to relive those years.
Read MoreGod’s Hand on Your Life
Perhaps you never knew what it was to nestle securely in a parent’s love. Your home life may have been strained or even fractured from your earliest memory. From a human point of view, your birth might have come at a difficult or awkward time in your parents’ lives.
Read MoreFive Cheers for Mom
What does motherhood require? Transparent tenderness, authentic spirituality, inner confidence, unselfish love, and self-control. Quite a list, isn’t it? Almost more than we should expect.
Read MorePerspective
What is perspective? Well, it’s obviously related to the way we view something. The term literally suggests “looking through . . . seeing clearly.” One who views life through perspective lenses has the capacity to see things in their true relations or relative importance. He sees the big picture. She is able to distinguish the incidental from the essential . . . the temporary from the eternal . . . the partial from the whole . . . the trees from the forest.
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