Every season brings a certain amount of joy to me. I enjoy all four and that makes Michigan a great home for me. I talk with many people who complain about winter and I wonder to myself why anyone would live in Michigan that hates the winter. But I also have identified a selfish streak…
A few of the counseling relationships I’m privileged to be a part of here at ReCAST have come about due to the challenges of sin. Typically, a crisis drives these individuals to seek pastoral counsel and part of working with them involves confronting the dysfunctional or devious behavior that caused or helped cause the crisis.…
I like the light. I associate walking in the darkness with stepping on Legos with my bare feet and ramming my shin into the end table. The disciple John writes in 1 John 1 about walking in the darkness and walking in the light. And, in context, walking in the light is not merely doing…
Several weeks ago, a young man named Matt introduced himself to me at church. He had the look of someone who was trying to hold himself together, and he asked if we could set up a time to meet. Later in the week when we sat down to talk, he shared with me that his…
In the amount of time I would’ve spent on Facebook two weeks ago I memorized a verse. I downloaded an excellent app called “Fighter Verses”. It is put out by Desiring God ministries and makes it super easy to memorize Scripture! It is a bargain at $2.99 on the App Store. Each week has a…
I am going on a week and a half without Facebook. I deactivated my account last week after a run in with some very prurient content and that was the straw that pushed me over the edge. It is a decision that has been building up as I observed Facebook consuming more of my time,…
“Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.” Genesis 20:6 I will leave it up to you to read and fill in…
I invented a new phrase today in a conversation with someone about new believers. He called them ‘squeaky clean’ and I called them ‘filthy clean.’ There is something true about his phrase and something true about mine. When a person gives their life to Jesus Christ embracing His sacrifice for them through humility and faith,…
I need to clarify something I recently said in a video I posted online, and have decided to make it a blog post not only because it’s an opportunity to teach on God’s character, but also to comment on one particular aspect of a healthy church. We’ve been doing a Grow Vlog (video blog) for…
I made my wife really happy yesterday. Monday is my day off, and I committed the day to getting some projects done around the house, and one in particular brought about by some decorative sticky-backed circle mirrors that left holes in the drywall when Nikki tried to remove them in order to apply a fresh…
This is a post I wrote originally for http://thecollegiatechristian.org, primarily for college students, but I think it applies to us all. Welcome to summer, college kids. The torturous stress of exam week has passed, dorm rooms and apartments have been cleared out, books cashed in and temps are rising. The freedom (apart from lame part-time…
