Download Life Guide Just for a minute, I want you to imagine that you’re having a family reunion at your house. Grandpa and grandma are there, aunts and uncles, some cousins. Everyone is laughing and having a good time—everyone except grandpa, that is. On this day, Grandpa seems a little distracted, not quite himself—until someone…
Tell me, have you ever wondered, “How can it be that two different people can hear the same Gospel of Jesus Christ, and one person believes it and the other person rejects it? How can it be that two children raised in the same family can end up at polar opposite ends of the religious…
Tell me, have you noticed even though we are at the very end of July, our lawns are still green and growing? I mean, there are some years when after a week of vacation, my lawn looked exactly the same as when I left it, only a little browner. But not this year. First thing…
Download Life Guide Sometimes you see it in the headlines. Sometimes you don’t. In Libya, 21 Christians are put to the sword by ISIS fighters. In Egypt, Palm Sunday services are shattered by a bomb that kills dozens of Coptic Christians. In North Korea, hundreds, if not thousands, of Christian men, women and children are…
I expect you saw the news this week. In our nation’s capital, a man tries to turn a baseball practice into a killing field. On the other end of the country, another man leaves three dead at a UPS facility. I don’t have to tell you that the world we live in is a dangerous…
Download Life Guide I’ve been thinking a lot about my nephew Caleb lately. Two weeks ago Caleb Raasch finished his first year at Martin Luther College, studying to be a pastor. He tells me he loves Latin. Loves Greek. Well, last Monday, Caleb left for boot camp, because in addition to studying for the ministry,…
Download Life Guide Tell me, have you ever wondered whether what you believe is actually the truth? For example, out of all the different religions in the world, how do you know that yours is the right one? How do you know that your God, the God of the Bible, is the True God? How…
Just for a minute, I want you to picture this scene. Before church started, we had a potluck dinner. But instead of serving milk and coffee with our meal, we served wine. I mean, lots of wine. To the point that by the time church started, there were people who were in various stages of…
Download Life Guide Do you remember Steven Avery, the man featured in the documentary, “Making a Murderer”? Tell me, how would you feel if yesterday you learned that Steven Avery was released from prison and today he comes strolling into church and plops down in the pew beside you? How would you feel? Would you…
Tell me, what does the word “repent” mean to you? I think that for many people the word has a very negative connotation. They imagine some church official saying, “Ve have vays of making you repent!” But actually, the biblical definition of repentance is not a negative one. The Greek word for repent is metanoia.…