Category: General

Memorial Markers: An Exercise in Joy

It’s been 25 years since I first went through Henry Blackaby’s best-selling Bible study, Experiencing God. Despite that passage of time, a particular aspect of it stands out in my mind: the need to establish memorial markers in our spiritual lives. Namely, to recall the highlights of where we have seen God move in unusual…
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Seeing God in Each Other’s Pain

Like many churches these days, ours is small, averaging less than 100 in Sunday morning attendance. Since many don’t return on Wednesday evenings for Bible study and sermon discussions, the midweek sessions are indeed a small group. Yet on a recent Wednesday night, when my wife and I were leading the discussion, I was delighted…
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Let the Fun Begin: March Madness

Although my father’s employer transferred him to northern Ohio when I was just one year old, I link my birth in Indiana to my affinity for basketball. The March-flavored hysteria that sparked the creation of the hit film, Hoosiers, just comes naturally to me. So I eagerly await Selection Sunday a few days hence. It…
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Bashing Amazon is Elitist Pastime

Less than two miles from our home, with its ubiquitous logo perched over the interstate like a welcome sign to the city, sits the local Amazon call center. The company’s presence is a story-within-a-story. After a long time in a downtown location, several years ago Amazon built a new headquarters on the upper half of…
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The Dream of a Lifetime

Until a couple old friends sent me congratulatory notes via LinkedIn, I didn’t even realize January marked my 36th “anniversary” in business. As I told them, the date wasn’t as auspicious as LinkedIn’s nod made it seem; January just happened to be when I set up shop in our spare bedroom as a combination PR…
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Socialism: The Utopian Dream that is a Nightmare

Whether the calls originate with academia, Hollywood or other quarters, socialism appears to be making a comeback—at least with the intelligentsia. Before New York recently elected its openly-socialist congresswoman, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, actor Jim Carry was telling Democrats they needed to say “yes” to socialism. I wonder how such folks can ignore the lessons of history.…
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Love so Real it Hurts

Although I was familiar with Lee Strobel’s background as a newspaper writer turned teaching pastor and author, it wasn’t until a 2015 magazine assignment that I wound up reading two of his books. The first couple chapters of The Case for Grace were so captivating I recommended that our small men’s group go through it. Then,…
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Marital Bliss Forged Through Toil

Two stories of marriage involving well-known persons appeared in national headlines the same week in January. The first involved the impending divorce of Amazon magnate Jeff Bezos, who is calling it quits after 25 years and four children. The second concerned the engagement of pro athlete Tim Tebow. When I saw the news about Bezos,…
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The Super Bowl of Burgers

After a one-and-done season for their head coach, the Arizona Cardinals were nowhere near the playoffs that culminate in Sunday night’s Super Bowl. Yet, when it comes to notable food—and let’s face it, Sunday’s event will be a pizza/ barbecue wings/chips-and-dip/whatever else you can dream up extravaganza—few can match the 7-lb. Gridiron Burger unveiled last…
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Patience is a Fading Virtue

The well-known verse appears near the beginning of the biblical chapter read so often at weddings: “Love is patient, love is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4 NIV). The order of Paul’s description is telling, I would say; he knew well that without patience, kindness isn’t likely to follow. And in our hyperspeed-paced world, patience is in…
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