I love God’s Word.  To some people that might sound weird. A little fanatical. Some may even say my love is misplaced: it’s OK to enjoy reading the Bible,but you should reserve your love for God, right? The Bible is more than just a book to read. It’s different than Tom Sawyer or Atlas Shrugged or Twilight. The Bible is more than just …

When groups pray together, it’s like adding logs to the fire. This is part three of a blog series I’m calling “Small Group Fireplaces.” In Part One, I stated that small groups can be the fireplace, or the environment, where revival and transformation can occur, but it’s not the fire, or even the match. In Part Two, I began describing …

Small groups have no more chance of initiating revival or transforming people’s lives than an empty fireplace has of starting a fire. Your small group should be a fireplace–an environment where God will do what only he can do in changing people’s lives. But you are not the fire, or even a match. I began this blog series by describing …

I first met Cinda (not her real name) in the apartment building laundry room. I learned quickly that she lived with her boyfriend, Nick, and was taking classes at the University of Cincinnati. My wife, Heidi, and I got to know Cinda and Nick over the next couple years, hanging out with them at the apartment-building pool, playing cards, and …

It takes maturity to have childlike faith. This is a vital principle for the Christ follower. It’s fundamental for a Christian leader. It’s basic for discipling someone. This is Part 3 of a series in which I’m exploring one Bible verse: “[God] bends down and listens” (Psalm 116:2). (Read Part 1 and Part 2.) I defined childlike faith as “complete trust in our Daddy, even …

God is a Daddy who lovingly stoops down to us, and that requires something of us. Yesterday, I blogged about this irresistible image of our almighty God bending down to look us in the eyes and listen to us (Psalm 116:2). Our Father does not expect us to do the impossible–to climb our way up to him; the unholy to strive to …

A dad stops what he is doing to bend down and really listen to his child. It’s not that the dad doesn’t have other things on his mind; he certainly does. This dad is making a statement: My child is important. I may have the positional power and persuasion of a parent, but I will stoop down to my child’s level …

As I opened my Bible and started reading this morning, I had to stop myself after the first stanza of Psalm 104. Something was missing. Rather, someone was missing. I found myself reading to be reading. But that’s not what God’s Word is for. So I stopped reading. I looked out the sliding glass doors that overlook the woods in …

In my reading of the Psalms, I’ve encountered several huge buts. The psalmist usually begins the psalm with a lament about his current circumstances, how bad things are, how everything seems to be falling apart. And then the writer uses this simple, three-letter, transitional word … but.But … and though the situation itself hasn’t changed, the psalmist’s attitude does. His outlook and …

On this Good Friday, I decided to read Mark’s account of what happened on that Friday when Jesus was sentenced, crucified, died, and buried. I’m not sure why, but today I was struck by one sentence, one verse, in this passage: A man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the country just then, and they forced …