“Do you have any stories about how kids really are?” As a child, and bored with reading kid literature that didn’t seem true to life, Stephen King asked that question to a book-cart attendant who handed him a copy of William Golding’s classic, Lord of the Flies. ...

A grateful life is a beautiful life. It’s compelling. It’s attractive. It’s contagious. Being around thankful people is pleasant. They are humble, optimistic, and appreciative....

Music wields a strange, unexplainable power. I’ve read that music is one of the most effective means of therapy for patients suffering from Dementia and Alzheimers. Their eyes grow wide upon hearing a song from their past as memories are awakened. For better or worse, music grips us. Songs can get in your head and flood your heart with emotions. Songs carry messages. ...

I used to admire rugged individualism. The “Think for yourself. Walk alone. Take the path least traveled” kind of heroic machismo. That self-reliance gene exists in each of us but gains traction through cultural influences. For me, such an influence came from movies like Rambo, in which a tough soldier fights alone and saves the day. ...

You won’t get far into the Bible without meeting a terrible adversary. Whether you start in the Old Testament, or the New, you’ll only make it a few chapters before the tempter appears on the scene. ...

When I was a teenager growing up in the south, adults often warned us about the satanic dangers lurking around us. Everything was suspect. Heavy metal music. Role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. Dolls and action figures. Even Saturday morning cartoons like Thundercats, He-man, and The Smurfs were considered demonic. A satanic panic took over the culture. People we...

A couple nights ago I told my littlest daughter that no spider in a nightmare can ever physically hurt her. I told her so as she was climbing into bed because at that moment she was not fearful of any real and present spider but of one that might again make its shadowy way into her unconscious dream perception. She grinned and was ready to sleep, newly emboldened. She unde...

Recently, I tried for a moment to imagine whom 2020 would be if it were a person. I couldn’t settle on one, though. Consciously avoiding being too political, I figured 2020 might be a mix of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tom Buchanan, Shakespeare’s Iago, the Thomas brothers’ Predator, and probably the Zodiac Killer. You know, insecurity and power, cruel deception, and viol...

When asked what is the greatest commandment the Lord answered that it is to love God with everything you are and to love your neighbor as you love yourself (cf., Mark 12:28-31). The infinite Creator and Sustainer of the universe provides for us one word to define how we ought to act, feel, and think toward God and man. Love. ...

I once heard a church planter tell pastors, “Your culture will eat your philosophy of ministry for lunch.” What did he mean? On paper, your church may have a clear vision, carefully crafted mission, and sweet doctrinal statement. But in practice, it may reek. Church culture is the smell that lingers in the room long after you’re read the doctrinal statement. ...