While a handful of schools played last weekend, the upcoming Labor Day weekend marks the major kickoff of the 2021 college football season. Ordinarily, that would excite football fans like me. But there are circumstances that mitigate against that. One is the countless players lining up to profit from new NIL (name, image and likeness)…
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The Aug. 8 passing from pancreatic cancer of Bobby Bowden, one of the winningest coaches in college football history, prompted considerable memorials and tributes from many in the sporting world. My memories of the esteemed coach go back 45 years. While I was still living in Florida, Bowden announced he was leaving West Virginia University…
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The question the leader of our men’s group posed during a discussion about discipleship was straightforward: What brings you deep joy? I had an immediate answer, drawing from two events—one current and the other past. The first involved a story I wrote recently for AG News, the Assemblies of God (AG) website about the stunning…
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Recently at my small men’s group, we discussed a devotional about the faith of a child. The author talked about how working at a Christian school helped him to understand this concept. On one of his first days, a seven-year-old prayed for his pet, which had fleas. These kids trust God is close and listening,…
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Every summer during our pastor’s vacation, a member of the worship team pinch-hits for him in the pulpit. His latest sermon was what I call an “award winner.” It focused on Hebrews 10:19-25 and our call to build one another up in the body of Christ. The passage ends with the advice: “Let us not…
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This may be old news since it happened two weeks ago, but I don’t think celebrating our former president’s 75th anniversary will ever get stale. In an era when broken homes are as common as broken dishes, it is worth cheering Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s enduring match—especially after the recent spate of headlines over Bill…
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One of my favorite verses of Scripture is Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is alive, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart” (MEV). The Bible’s sharp, always-fresh character…
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An elderly member of our church appears to be in the final days of his life, something that has saddened many of our hearts. Years ago he escaped death in an accident, spending a month in the intensive care unit. A few years later he developed complications from the incident and wound up back in…
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As one quite familiar with fluctuating freelance income the past 35-plus years, I know how challenging it is to be grateful when the roller coaster takes a dive. That’s what happened after I completed a time-consuming book rewrite and editing project at the end of January. At first, I wasn’t too upset. I had completed…
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While Monday of last week marked one of the best days of 2021, it started off a loser. I awoke feeling “out of sorts,” a strange fatigue that had dogged me for two weeks. At first, I attributed the situation to a mysterious knee injury that forced me to ice it every night. However, when…
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