Dad just lay in the hospital bed - a shell of a man. He had been rushed to the intensive care unit at the Cleveland Clinic. My brother, Chuck, and I watched as he emerged from his comatose state to discover he was strapped into a bed. His bewildered look revealed his confusion of having needles and tubes stuck into his body. Perhaps his largest frustration was the ventilator tube stuck into his mouth, preventing speech and intensifying his … [Read more...]

We live in a culture obsessed with success. Our kids, our jobs, our homes, our churches can’t be ordinary. To accept being average (not exceptional) is agreeing to give up on ourselves and God. I recently spoke to someone on a search committee for a new pastor. The pastor they were looking for had to demonstrate success. He told me his church would only contact pastors who had churches that had 20% growth in the last year. We’ve got to be … [Read more...]

It was 4 o’clock and we knew we were in trouble. My brother, Chuck, and I had just returned home from the baseball fields after having lost all track of time. The lawn had not been mowed. The trash cans had not been emptied, and we never did pull the weeds by the string beans and radishes. There was no way we would get everything done by 4:30. You see, at 4:30, Dad would be home and he would not be happy. Dad hated hot summer days because … [Read more...]

What does God want you to do when you have worked so hard to heal your marriage and nothing has changed? Perhaps you are one of the many Christians who has spent years praying and trying find anything to help to bring love and joy to your troubled marriage-only to find that every effort has failed. Now you must decide. Should you live the life of a suffering martyr until the kids leave or the Lord takes you home? Perhaps you need to … [Read more...]

I am frequently asked the question, “why”? Why did God allow me to suffer? Why did God save me from the consequences of the mess I made? After trying to help a client make sense of a recent loss, I recalled a time when I agonized over how to understand a loss experienced by a godly, caring mother. My daughter, Olivia, had come home to attend Emmy, her younger sister’s, high school graduation. After the weekend, she left for her home on … [Read more...]