Do This to Save Your Marriage

I’m not sure what’s going on but lately it seems more of my friends are either getting a divorce or thinking about it. I realize there is no single cure for a failing marriage but as I look back on my almost forty years of marriage I recall an early lesson that helped Cindy and me cut off relational problems before they got too big to control. We had only been married a year or so when we identified what I labeled the “I don’t want to feeling.” It’s what we felt when the selfishness monster pleaded with us to disregard the other person. Of course, recognizing the presence of the creature doesn’t mean he’ll graciously leave, especially in areas where he’s established control. But he can be bridled, led to a cage, and deprived of the freedom to roam around our hearts destroying our marriage. Here’s how.
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The Day I Learned to Fear God

The Northwest boasts some of the most beautiful country in the world. Primeval forests form a soaring cathedral over the hills. Sheer cliffs stand hundreds of feet above the ocean. Giant black rocks form surreal towers that rise over the ocean surface, seagulls resting on the black monoliths look like specks of dandruff. Trees, battered by wind, bent and bowed lean toward the east–away from the water as though they were paralyzed while trying to run from the twenty-foot waves that crash into the rocks and send white spray and foam fifty feet into the air.

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Why me? Why now? Why this?

Why? It’s the question that hits first and lingers longest. Why me? Why now? Why this? Most people don’t even try to answer such questions. How could they? That’s what makes the words of James, the half-brother of Jesus so unexpected. He didn’t hesitate to declare that the purpose of all testing is to produce “perseverance” in the life of the sufferer (James 1:2-4). Instead of looking at the disappointments we face, he exhorts us to look beyond the hardship to the character it will produce in our lives.

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Is Following Jesus as Impossible as Following Superman?

Imitating Jesus in prayer might sound as impossible as emulating Superman’s flying capabilities. We might shadow Clark Kent up a flight of stairs, but we’re not going to follow the Man of Steel off a tall building. Likewise, I suspect most people figure they could at least try to imitate Jesus when he operated from his human nature, but no way could they follow his lead when he relied on his divine nature. Continue reading

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A Review of Rob Bell’s Book: Love Wins

Rob Bell’s bestselling book, Love Wins has stirred up a hornet’s nest of controversy. He’s done this by asking questions in ways that cut deep, exposing raw muscle, bone and tendon. For instance, he asks, “Does God punish people for thousands of years with infinite, eternal torment for things they did in their few years of life? This doesn’t just raise disturbing questions about God; it raises questions about the beliefs themselves. Why them? Why you? Why me? Why not him or her or them? Are there only a select few who go to heaven, which is more terrifying to fathom: the billions who burn forever or the few who escape this fate?” (p. 2-3).

These questions are just the opening salvo of a book with hundreds of such questions. Questions that cause the reader to challenge the very idea that a loving God could send people to a horrible place like hell.

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Do Cows Cause Global Warming?

I know this will come as a shock to you but a United Nations report has identified the world’s rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests, and wildlife. How could Elsie be the source of such destruction? It seems cow emissions are responsible for such environmental crimes as acid rain which produces deserts, creates dead zones in the oceans, poisons rivers and drinking water, and destroys coral reefs.
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