Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year. I love the music, the memories, the traditions, and the chance to annually think about Burl Ives. His memory returns with the annual airing of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Ives is the voice of Sam the Snowman who narrates the “enhanced” story of Rudolph. Rudolph and his elf buddy Hermey don’t fit in with the others. Rudolph looks different than his peers. Hermey is not interested in making toys. In an odd plot twist, Hermey wants to be a dentist. Not surprisingly, his elf supervisor is upset with the unproductive Hermey. So the two outcasts set off to find their purpose and a place to be accepted. The part of the story that resonates with me these days is when Hermey and Rudolph find their way to the Island of Misfit Toys. All of the toys on this island are castoffs because they are flawed and deemed worthless. There is a “Charlie
Continue reading...
Amy Grant recorded “My Grown-up Christmas List” for her “Home For Christmas” album. The lyrics imagine an adult going back to Santa with a different perspective on what matters most in life. Instead of material things the writer now asks for good things for others. I love the sentiment of the song. No more lives torn apartThat wars would never startAnd time would heal all heartsEveryone would have a friendAnd right would always winAnd love would never endThis is my grown-up Christmas list I thought about my “grown-up” Christmas list. I would love for all of the things in the lyrics above to come true. But I have lived enough to know they likely will not. Every day some lives are torn apart. Wars start too frequently. Time does not heal every heart. Some who are reading this are lonely. Right seems to lose way too often and love ends heartbreakingly for many. So what could I wish for that would
Continue reading...
Last week we had to say goodbye to our sweet rescued dog Maggie. I spent the last few days looking back at what I wrote about Maggie in 2014 when my book Stay was submitted for publication. She was just a couple of years old when I finished the manuscript so I decided to write an epilogue about her amazing development over the last 10 years. If you have a copy of Stay: Lessons My Dogs Taught Me about Life, Loss, and Grace you can print this out and put it at the end of the volume. I don’t think Tyndale Momentum Publishing will reissue the book to include this chapter but feel free to ask them! Our girl was found running loose near Van Alstyne, Texas in the fall of 2012. She was a few months old when rescued but was in very bad shape with an open gash on her leg. She was undernourished and tested positive for
Continue reading...
Author Jon Gordon recently posted a quote from Josh Noem that is going viral. “I collect images of walk-off home run hitters rounding third because they are an image of heaven.” This image was posted with the quote. That post brought to mind a story I shared in Stay: Lessons My Dogs Taught Me about Life, Loss, and Grace. I recounted a walk-off home run and how that might resemble my eternal heading home. Here is the excerpt from my book. It was a sports director’s dream moment. The Rangers had a few “walk-off” wins last season, scoring the winning run in the last at bat at home. When a game is over, both teams walk off the field but with very different body languages. In this particular game against the Los Angeles Angels, we were all tied up in the bottom of the ninth with two outs on the board. Rangers’ catcher Geovany Soto was at the plate. I
Continue reading...
Hypocrite. There is no more damaging name to lay on a church goer than the dreaded title of hypocrite. Sometimes it is used unfairly. Often it is a smokescreen used by folks who want an excuse not to examine faith in their own lives. You have heard the line I’m sure. “I used to go to church but it is full of hypocrites.” The temptation is always to remind them there is room for one more hypocrite in the building. The more mature response as followers of Christ is to examine that charge seriously in our own lives. The word hypocrite comes from a Greek word that means actor. How appropriate. People are watching. And we too often give Oscar caliber performances on Sunday morning. They see that on Sunday you’re a saint and on Monday you ain’t. And that does damage. It is time to look in the spiritual mirror and drop the masquerades. If we are following Jesus it will make a
Continue reading...
Nowhere in Scripture will I find this command. “Be busy, and know that I am God.” My busyness does not please God. My faith pleases Him. And I can’t have faith and trust in someone I am too busy to know well. Day in and day out, I need to heed this truth: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 I have a remarkable role model named Jesus for how to balance busyness and priorities. Jesus never allowed the tyranny of the urgent to supersede the ultimately more important reward of relationships. He didn’t feel the need to drive Himself to exhaustion to teach and preach. “Then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house.” Matthew 13:36 It is instructive that Jesus withdrew from the crowd (and the obligation I likely would have felt) to spend time with His disciples. The most important thing for Jesus was to prepare His disciples and not to “friend” several hundred
Continue reading...
I am offering these humble ramblings before the 2024 Election Day. I care deeply about my country. I have deep convictions about many political issues. I have friends and family on both sides of the aisle desperately wanting victory. I have friends and family suffering anxiety that the world will collapse if their side loses. I used to suffer that anxiety and desperate desire to win. Something has completely changed in my heart. May I share 5 reasons why I have experienced that change of heart? Our Western culture demands answers. We feel the need and even the right to understand why something happens. Is God totally sovereign or do I have free will? Logic says one or the other must be true. God says both are true. We can’t fathom that so we pick a side. As I have slowly grown in my faith I have come to fully embrace the many attributes of God and that His plan
Continue reading...