One More For JC

It's an honor to step aside and post a message my wife, Dee, has written and will share at a Christmas service next week. Merry Christmas! How many of us focus on Jesus at Christmas time? Many of us are caught up in material gift-giving, holiday depression, financial frustration, preparing for visiting relatives - all the extra "work" that comes with Christmas - it can be stressful and distracting. This year, more so than any in recent history, people are in need of a gift that they will not find in shopping malls, they cannot order on the internet, and they will not be capable of making with their own hands: We are seeking peace. We are seeking security. We are longing for lost loved ones. We are in need of hope. On Christmas Eve some 2000+ years ago, God gave us the first gift and the only gift any of us will ever need. Jesus was delivered to deliver us. Thanks to Jesus: None of us will ever truly walk alone. None of us need to live in fear. We have a bes

How long, O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?  How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?  How long will my enemy triumph over me?  (Psalms 13:1-2) Several months back I wrote the below with the intent of getting it published in Newsweek magazine.  Unfortunately, the editor has decided not to include it, but thankfully I’ve got publishing rights on my web site.  I include it here not to praise the drug Accutane, but to reach out to those who have been plagued by an “Achilles Heel” throughout their life.  I hope this message helps each of you overcome that obstacle, whatever it might be.  A good portion of my early adult life was spent trapped in either the four walls of my bedroom or the four walls of the bathroom down the hall.  While my peers were enjoying their rise to adulthood, I was entangled in a never-ending struggle with the dregs of puberty…acne.  My first blemish appeared innocently

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.  (Nahum 1:3) I’ve shed a lot of tears over the past 24 hours.  The images I’ve seen may never leave me.  The World Trade Center was a place I got engaged, worked, dined, awed, and toured as a child.  By the grace of God, on this one fateful day, I wasn't there.  Unfortunately, far too many people were.  I don’t think it’s quite hit home yet that a family member, former co-worker, friend, or friend of a friend could have died in the rubble of NYC yesterday.  Quite honestly, it would be a major miracle if that weren’t the case.  There are a large number of people I know who either worked in the area or know someone who did. It’s hard to comprehend how much hatred filled the hearts of the men who committed these acts, but I’m trying my hardest not to judge them.  I’ll leave that in the hands of Lord.  Instead I’m trying to channel my thoughts and prayers to the victims of this tr

The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.  My Father will honor the one who serves me.  (John 12:25-26) At times it seems like such a challenge to be a servant of the Lord.  As I look back over the years of my life I can see a roller coaster of passionate and dispassionate service to Him.  My days of visiting nursing homes, recovery centers and food shelters have for some reason come to an end.  My days of leading and participating in bible studies/home groups have ceased.  My desire to verbally share my faith in Christ has increasingly waned as well.  My fire and passion for my web site is decreasing as well:  I open the 1999 Archive page and count 26 verse apps.  I open the 2000 Archive page and count 23 verse apps.  I open the 2001 Archive page and count only 5 verse apps year to date.  It’s a trend that concerns me.  I

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  (Philippians 2:3-4) Dee and I watched the movie “Pay it Forward” earlier today and it really touched my heart.  It told the story of a 7 th grade Social Studies teacher who assigned an extra credit project to his class to do something to change the world.  One student took it to heart, and devised a plan to “Pay it Forward.”  His plan was to touch the lives of 3 people, who would touch the lives of 3 people, and so on.   Some students laughed at the idea, but nothing stopped the boy from seeing his plan come to life. It made me think about those times when others made a huge difference and impact upon me.  I thought about the darkest day of my life a few years back.  I remember backing out of a few Memorial Day family and friend parties, and spending the day home alone with ev

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.  (Hebrews 9:27-28) The Easter weekend always brings mixed emotions to me.  I can remember growing up as a kid and watching “Jesus of Nazareth” on television every year.  I witnessed the love of Christ unfold before my eyes in a very real and powerful way:  I marveled as I watched all the miracles He performed.  I winced as I watched Him being tortured and beaten.  I cried as I watched Him being crucified.  I rejoiced as He arose from the dead, reunited with His disciples, and ascended into heaven.  On Good Friday, I always think about the death of Christ – His suffering, His pain, and His sacrifice.  What makes Him so special to me is that I know His death was no accident.  He willingly laid down His life at the appointed time for the

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.  (James 1:22-25) It took nearly two years, but the “Verse of the Day” has made its way through every book of the bible.  Proverbs began the journey on 4/28/1999 and 2 Corinthians concluded it on 3/4/2001.  Over 400 verses were selected, with an average of seven verses per book and one book every ten days.  Of those verses, 51 were highlighted in the “Verse Application.”  It’s been a tremendous blessing to me, as I’ve found my way into books I didn’t know existed.  I even ventured into books from the Old Testament that I avoided

But mark this:  There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power.  Have nothing to do with them.  (2 Timothy 3:1-5) I don’t know whether we’re living in the “last days” or not, but shows like Fox’s “Temptation Island” certainly lead me to believe we’re not that far away.  Fox first raised my ire about a year ago with “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?”  They brought together a man and woman in “holy” matrimony, after the groom whittled out the rest of the competition through the course of a two-hour episode.  Now they’re back, and worse than ever with “Temptation Island.”  The concept this time is to shamelessly try to ruin the r