PRAYING FOR LIFE AND DEATH There are a number of people I pray for whose lives are hanging somewhere in the balance between life and death; a few are tipping precariously toward the death side. Then there’s Uncle Marvin. He’s not my real uncle but became the model for a fictional uncle in a mystery […]
A GENTLE CORRECTION In my last Blog, I stated that we have nothing to offer God that He needs. My brother Bill, a practicing psychotherapist in Raleigh with a Christian inner-healing ministry, sent me a quick email to the effect that I was not quite correct. It reads: “I enjoyed your blog today and agree […]
WHAT DO WE HAVE TO OFFER CHRIST? Marylou was visiting with her pastor about some nasty turns her life had taken, including a major health issue. “I’ve been active in this church and am a volunteer in a nursing home. I give my time and money freely to the Lord’s work and pray daily. But […]
MY FRIEND JERRY I have a friend in Michigan named Jerry, who was renewed in the spirit a few years back and is now on fire for Christ. He is the leader of a group called Michael’s men in the church he and his wife Maxine attend. We’ve come to know much about each other’s […]
THE REST OF THE STORY I arrived at the Anoka Courthouse well before Raphael’s 10 am hearing, hoping to talk to Larry, his public defender. The time had been changed to 1 pm. I called Larry to find out if he had talked to the prosecutor (an assistant county attorney) about an Alford Plea – […]
JEHOVAH JIRAH Jehovah Jirah means “the Lord will provide.” Don’t ever doubt that the Lord will provide. I was on my way to Anoka yesterday to appear at a court hearing for Raphael, my prisoner friend who came to the Lord when I was conducting a Gideon prison ministry session at the Wright County Jail […]
FORGIVENESS Forgive, and you will be forgiven. – Luke 6:37 Some years back I was coaching a woman who wanted to be free of a depression that had been following her around like a black dog for many years. She said she felt God was against her. It became clear to me that her problem […]
A BUCKET I had a dream on the last day of 2010 in which I was a bucket about to be dropped into the ocean. I don’t know who was going to drop me or why; perhaps I never knew. Dreams are sketchy that way. These are the words I recorded in my journal at […]
WHAT COULD I HAVE DONE? In the last blog I said I’d tell you today what I could have done to keep Jesus in mind at the golf outing last week. I have changed my mind. I’m not a paragon of Christianity, and to use myself as a shining example would be presumptuous at best […]
PRISON MINISTRY I’m a Gideon, and it was my turn to be at the Wright County Jail last Sunday for a Bible study. In the past few months, we’ve had up to fourteen prisoners come in at a time to hear about Jesus. One of two Gideons assigned for the day usually has a lesson […]