Intervarsity Insights

This summer I have been doing some video training sessions with one of the Intervarsity staff members. This week we talked about how to assess readiness in a person when it comes to sharing the gospel. I thought this was really good. Stage 1 - Trust Has my relationship with this person grown to the place where I am trusted as a friend? Stage 2 - Curious Has my friend shown any interest in spiritual things, asked any questions that are spiritual in nature or willingly

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Why I run

  

Some people love to run. They feel like there is nothing better than being out in nature, getting some exercise, and offloading some stress. I am not one of those people. I run, but only because I have to. To be sure, no one makes me run, but if I don't run there seems to become more of me - and I also start to feel sort of sluggish (what a great word, slug-gish). I realize there are other ways to get exercise, but running is free - and I don't have to make any su...
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1313 Mockingbird Lane

  

This is a quiz for all the Old Timers (don't worry, it's very brief): #1. What famous family lived at 1313 Mockingbird Lane? (If you guessed the Munsters, you would be correct. If you are not sure who the Munsters were, you might need to do a little research into classic TV.) #2. What famous TV family also lived in the same neighborhood as the Munsters?  (If you guessed the Cleavers, you would be correct again.  Ward, June, Wally and the Beaver lived just a few do

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grow as you go

Let's be honest. If Sunday morning church is the only investment that you make in your spiritual life during the week, you are not going to grow much in your faith. The goal is for Sunday to be a launch pad or starting line for the week - and for you to leverage the morning to get some spiritual momentum going. In today's world we have many tools to keep the momentum going, things like books and websites and videos and apps and even online Bible studies and commentarie

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remembering

  

Remember when you actually had to know people's phone numbers?  There were letters on the dial, but they had nothing to do with your name.  Instead, you had a number.  And I had this weird gift.  I could just remember people's phone numbers.  I seldom had to look them up.  For some reason they just stuck with me.  (And I can still remember every phone number I've ever had in my life starting with the one that got printed on my name tag at the bus stop for kindergarten.) ...
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weight watching (and other spiritual health thoughts)

I have a friend named Russ.  He works for Shaw Industries (the flooring company), and he has typically been my inside source anytime I have needed carpet or hardwood flooring for my home.  But one time it was my dad who needed some new flooring for his bathroom, so Russ offered to help him out and stopped by the house to get some measurements.  No one was home, but he was able to let himself in.  While he was there, he stepped on the bathroom scale and got a pleasant surpr

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things my mother taught me...

It's hard for me to believe, but I have now outlived my mother.  By that, I mean that I have lived longer than she did.  I always knew that she died young; I'm realizing now just how young she was.  She has been gone for three decades now, but I still think of her often and miss her.  She was a great mom.  She wasn't perfect, she had a few faults, but she was a special person. One of the memories of my mom was how much she loved desserts. We had them after every dinner. ...
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the problem with bob...

  

Speaking of piñatas...  Ok, we weren't necessarily talking about piñatas, but we were talking about Cinco de Mayo which is a Mexican holiday that sometimes has piñatas, so yeah, we kind of were.  Anyhow, that's all an introduction to tell you about my piñata story - my problem with Bob. When our kids had birthdays it was a big deal, but we didn't do big friend parties every year - just every so often (I think it was when they turned 5, 8 & 10). With three kids, a stagg...
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the drama on my doorstep

  

My wife likes to keep a wreath on the front door.  The birds appreciate it, too.  Last year a robin discovered the wreath, realized that it was well protected from the elements, built a nest in the wreath, then raised her little family.  We enjoyed the process, taking occasional peeks while trying to use the front door as little as possible. That was last year. This year? Evidently the word got out in the bird community. So now we have two nests in the wreath. One f

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the priest and the Levite

Last night I was the storyteller at the weekly Connect the Nations meeting.  And the story I told was the Good Samaritan (Luke 10).  It's probably one of the more familiar stories of the New Testament - but that's just the problem.  The familiarity often lessens the impact.

So let me refresh you by briefly telling the story. A (Jewish) man walks down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Along the way he is ambushed by some men who rob him and beat him, who take his cloth...
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the not-so-wild side

I'm not one to do something crazy.  I'm never going to jump out of an airplane with a parachute strapped to my back.  I'm not going to try to jump over 12 school buses with my motorcycle.  Nor am I going to go swimming with the sharks.  I will, however, try a new restaurant from time to time. As I look back over my life I don't recall too many crazy things I've done. I did go on a college road trip with two friends living out of an S10 pick-up truck for a week. And I've

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sounds a little crazy

Recently I was having a conversation with someone who was curious about Christianity and who had a lot of questions.  We talked about all sorts of things spiritual, but eventually the topic turned to Jesus.

"Was there really a Jesus?" I shared that history doesn't really debate whether there was a person named Jesus. It's pretty much an accepted fact. For example - the year we attach to the date is based on the life of Christ. BC - before Christ. AD - the year of our...
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what's wrong?

  

"It's supposed to be spring, but it's still so cold and windy outside.""The neighbor's dog barks constantly.""They rearranged the grocery store shelves and I can't find anything.""The boss never asks what I think.""My kid isn't getting enough playing time.""Eggs cost like $10 a dozen.""Why do they always sing that one song at church?""My reward for doing a good job is just more work.""The service at this place just isn't what it used to be." It's not hard to notice what ...
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puzzled?

 Life is like a puzzle. Sometimes it just seems like a pile of jumbled confusion. Sometimes it seems like 1000 random pieces just begging you to make some sense of it all. Sometimes it's not being able to find the place where the piece you are holding needs to go. And sometimes it's realizing that the piece you need just wandered off into the next room stuck to someone's forearm. But life can be really hard to figure out. Puzzling. Sometimes my wife and I will do a

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when the mob took to the streets

I'm a big fan of zoos.  When my kids were little we used to buy passes each summer to the Potawatomi Park Zoo, partly because we lived just three blocks from the zoo.  We could walk over there any time for free (kind of) - but then we could also use the pass to visit other zoos across the country for free as well.  

While I love to see all the various animals, I have to say that I sometimes feel a little bad for them. It has to be rough enough to be cooped up day after d...
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