On Friday January 20th just prior to the swearing in ceremony for President-elect Donald J. Trump, our Vice-President Mike Pence will be placing his hand on the Reagan family Bible, opened to the same passage the 40th US President Ronald Reagan used (2 Chronicles 7:14). It’s a passage of Scripture originally meant for God’s chosen people, the Israelites, […]
The next installment in our prayer for America’s leaders and our gratitude for their service, we offer this prayer for outgoing Vice-President Joe Biden and his family. They too will experience the sudden departure from what has been normal life for the past eight years. They deserve our prayers. Why do we pray for our […]
For any of us who have ever lost a job, retired, or left the workforce for parenting, illness, or another job, the sudden change is often difficult. It doesn’t have to be bad in order to be an abrupt departure from one’s prior activities. Changes like this are often difficult to manage. Therefore, I believe […]
This week marks the time in American culture every 4 years in which we either celebrate a second term of an incumbent President or welcome—in the tradition of our Republic—a peaceful transition of power. A passing of the baton in a race we all run together as Americans. Why would our Republic allow for a […]
After nearly eight full years of an historic presidency, President Barack Obama has had his farewell tour with a speech in Chicago, final interviews as President, and awarded his last Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor to a lifetime politician, his Vice-President Joe Biden. Now what? In Biden’s prior reflection upon his impending […]
Continuing this rumination about legacy and fame and how selfish ambition can destroy one’s soul, I will share with you something about my approach to information. I go to the Bible first. It’s my compass, in this case to distinguish a good desire for success from a not-good lust for fame. And then I go everywhere […]
CNN had an opinion piece recently that’s right on the money. It’s called “Facebook has created a monster it cannot tame” about the live streaming function and the horrific and gruesome having no space and distance between any monster’s camera and any audience’s eyeballs. This feature—in the hands of the godless—is a monster. An evil […]
Instead of using the glorious opportunity of being awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement and using that acceptance speech in good and productive ways, Meryl Streep chose to have her legacy be one of arrogance and sniping bitterness. Meryl Streep’s speech will go down in history as a missed opportunity. That’s a […]
Continuing in this short LEGACY series, let’s look today at a life of significance. One of my favorite movies is Moneyball which got good ratings—a 94% from Rotten Tomatoes–but even that doesn’t reflect all the great messages and sermon illustrations one can get from it that speak spiritually and theologically. There’s a quote from Billy Beane […]
To what extent should a Christian engage in self-promotion? Should any church sell itself to the public or engage in marketing? Should any Christian desire fame or is ambition itself not a good thing? I think about this a lot actually. I want a lasting legacy and for that reason, fame is always a very […]
