This Sunday we celebrate Mother’s Day.  What have you learned from your mother?  Most of us have a massive list.  My Mom taught me that Jesus Christ is most important.  There were many things she wanted for me in life but most of all she wanted me to experience the hope and joy of knowing Christ.  She was a woman of prayer both in front of me and in the background of my life.  She demonstrate...

     Everyone is wounded by others at one time or another, sometimes in significant ways.  Many individuals have been molested as children.  Others have been cheated on by their spouse.  Some have been lied to or stolen from.  The list of offenses is endless.  Each of us receives the opportunity to respond.  Will we seek revenge?  Turn our anger inward and end up with seething resentment?  Or can ...

     Author Jerry Sittser tells of a conversation with his wife Lynda where she shared with him, “I can’t imagine life being any better than it is right now.”  Within 24 hours of that conversation, they were hit by a drunk driver. In that incident Jerry lost his wife Lynda, his mother, and his four-year-old daughter (A Grace Disguised, 4, 44).  While most of us do not face such catastrophic trauma...

     At the height of the Korean War minister Everett Swanson flew there to speak to the troops.  Shortly after arriving, a street urchin stole his coat.  It was a cold winter day and so Everett gave chase.  As he came around a corner expecting to catch the boy instead the child had disappeared and his coat was piled on the ground.  He stopped and picked up the coat to be surprised to see that a s...

      Today we live in a culture of outrage and offense.  So many are building their lives on resentment.  In contrast, Christians are called to be people who offer forgiveness.  We do not always walk this calling out well.  Most of us have a person in our life where our teeth clench when their name comes up.   We must address these issues so that these understandable angry feelings do not take up...