An old friend stopped returning my phone calls. My intuition, which is accurate 3/4 of the time, tells me that my clumsy attempts to represent Christ to my old friend finally put him off. Perhaps had I been more straight-forward — a known quantity, things would be different. Perhaps had I been more sensitive — not forcing the conversation, we’d …
Tongue Unleashed
My life-long friends Kathe and Dave led me in a very specific prayer recently as we cruised in my 2004 Ford Explorer along a country road: Lord, use us. Yes, I’m an evangelist/apologist. I’m trained, skilled, etc. YET, it’s shocking to me how often my fragile ego puts a gag order on my tongue, insisting that Now’s not the time …
Coming and Going
An impressionable college student from the Midwest attended the 1979 Urbana Mission Convention, and that student was me. I was fortunate to have a talk at the convention with the Rev. Billy Graham in which he looked directly at me and uttered these words, and I paraphrase: The scriptural pattern for God’s servants has two directions–coming and going. First we …
Psalm 130 to the Rescue
As mentioned last week, I’ve been setting the stopwatch on my cell phone most mornings for thirty minutes of worship and intercession. I wish I could say this comes easily for me, being in the ministry and all, but I can’t. Jim Sire has helped me. With instruction from his fine book, Learning to Pray through the Psalms, I’ve committed …
30 Holy Minutes
One of my friends spends 30 minutes/day in intercessory prayer. Through his example I’ve been challenged to do the same. That was two months ago. How’s it going so far? I’m inconsistent, and when I do sit down before the Lord my mind easily wanders. Yet, I’m beginning to WANT to be there… Would you care to join me on …