Just when you think you can imagine how things are going to work in your life… …your child brings home a flea-bitten stray dog. …the doorbell rings at 2:30 a.m. …you discover a hidden stash in your son’s sock drawer …you open the envelope …you lose your balance …words jump off the page and upend…

I have a lot to learn about play. Again. When I was a kid, my mom used to tell me to go outside and play. Before I could come up with a reason why I couldn’t, she’d shove me out the door and lock it behind me. Literally. I was the kid who would have…

I went to the bank yesterday to deposit the check representing the money I inherited from my mom. People take checks to the bank all the time – or, if they’re like me, to the drive-up cash machine, filling out an envelope while using their steering wheel as a desk. But this check was different,…

Here’s the question: If you are a pastor, worship leader or staff member who receives a paycheck for your service to your congregation, would you try to find a way to do your job if the paycheck evaporated? There are some of you who’ve planted churches or started ministries, and you know what it like…

Even my overactive imagination could not invent this story. This is my version of abundant life – a fun true story to celebrate the first day of summer arriving at last: I’ve only been camping once, and I didn’t even make it through an entire night under the stars. My friend Michele (one “L”, so…

I wrote about her last October. Judie lived a beautiful, abundant life. Her dying desires were the same desires that had defined her life: She longed for her children to walk with Christ, and for the rest of us to love one another the way Christ loves us. She passed away last night. Please pray…