What’s wrong with your church? You can probably list a number of irritating flaws. Your preacher’s off-putting habits. Uninspiring music. Inadequate communication. Perhaps you dislike how the church allocates its money, or you wish the leaders put more emphasis on (choose one): youth, senior adults, married couples, singles, doctrinal instruction, local needs, or global missions. […]
Week 22 Application | Stretch out Your Hand
I held my mom’s hand while she took her last breath. She died one month short of her 90th birthday. A couple of weeks before, I visited her in the nursing facility where she had recently moved, and she said, “I want you to see my fingernails.” Proudly she stretched out her hands so I […]
Week 21 Application | Has-Beens
Do you ever feel like a cultural dinosaur? Do you sometimes feel obsolete, out-of-date, and passé? Do you no longer feel fashionable, useful, or valuable—like you have passed the peak of your effectiveness or popularity? As time passes, most of us wrestle with feeling like a has-been. The sharp-looking guy who was a heartthrob in […]
Week 20 Application | Once in a Lifetime
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience!” Have you ever said those words? I got a ticket for game two of the World Series in 1990 when the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Oakland A’s on their way to a four-game sweep. As a lifelong Reds fan I found their 2-1 victory so satisfying that I don’t mind if […]
Week 19 Application | God Comes First
Nothing tests a person’s priorities more than an empty stomach. A severe drought plagued Israel, but in the midst of the famine God provided for Elijah. Ravens brought the faithful prophet bread and meat twice a day and he drank water from a nearby brook. Eventually, though, the brook dried up—and it looked like hope […]