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If you love only those who love you, do you think that’s grace? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, do you think that’s grace? Even sinners do that much!

Several years ago I was in bad shape. I was overfed, overweight, and lazy. I seemed to always be sleeping.

I recently watched a video of someone asking four women sitting under a “Choose Adoption” banner at a March for Life rally how many children each of them had adopted. The answer was none for each of them, and most of the women required some prodding to admit it. They seemed visibly uncomfortable with the question and the reality of their inaction, responding with nervous laughter and comments like, “I already have two children.”

According to one physician, “Fasting is unquestionably, without any micro doubt, the most profoundly powerful metabolic intervention you can possibly do.” Another healthcare professional calls fasting a “miracle” and “God’s original medicine.” These are pretty bold words.

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”[1] That’s quite the promise Jesus made during His Sermon on the Mount. Despite the many worries and trials we encounter in life, Jesus tells us how to get everything we need.

There is no shortage of advice these days on how to best care for oneself and effectively treat disease. The Internet, television, and book sellers are teeming with resources, including a host of multi-part documentaries with titles such as The Truth About Cancer, The Healing Miracle, The Broken Brain, and The Sacred Plant. While there is a ton of good information out there, it’s a bit overwhelming.

A little over ten years ago, a young counselor named Kelly Turner was working with cancer patients when she first encountered something she calls radical remission. She defines radical remissions as cases where a person’s cancer goes away either without the use of conventional treatment, using alternative treatments after the failure of conventional treatment, or through a combination of both types of treatments in the face of a dire prognosis. Kelly began searching for other such cases and, to her surprise, found over a thousand in medical journals. Her disbelief was increasingly mixed with frustration, though, as she realized that conventional doctors were not interested in learning more about what these patients had done to get better.

I recently read through a chronological Bible, starting with the New Testament and finishing with the Old. I was shaken by the violence described in the Old Testament. God’s repeated acts and threats of violence against His people and other nations lingered in my mind long after I was finished. I found it difficult to continue my Bible studies for several weeks.

Make yourself known, God;
not with glimpses, peeks, and whispers,
but with undeniable, grand, and kind displays.

There is deep and ever-widening political division in our country. Contempt and toxicity are the rule. It reminds me of a Bible verse that says, "Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy, for we have had our fill of contempt."[1] Have you had your fill of contempt?

My daughter, Shannon, is a feminist. She’s also a follower of Jesus Christ. Some might ask, do these things seem at odds with each other and, if so, why?

Back is 2015, a Jordanian pilot was placed in a cage by ISIS, doused with fuel, and set on fire. The incident was captured on film. If you’re a normal human being – one who is not sadistic – you immediately recoil at such a thing and see it as pure evil. Yet something far worse than this is what most Christians believe God is going to do to people who don’t accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They believe that God will place such people in a fiery torment for eternity.

In 1994, a sixteen-year-old boy named Billy Best sold some skateboard parts, baseball cards, and other belongings and fled his hometown of Norwell, Massachusetts, to avoid undergoing chemotherapy. He didn’t tell anyone he was leaving or where he was going. The story became a national sensation.

The Kingdom of God refers to the perfectly just, peaceful, loving, and flourishing society that God will establish on earth at the return of Jesus Christ – a Kingdom that was partially established at His first coming and which will be fully consummated when He returns to rule as King.

A friend of mine called me this morning to share some fresh insight into the story of King Solomon’s request for wisdom. Early in Solomon’s reign, God appeared to him and asked, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”[1] Solomon responded as follows:

A lot has been written about leadership, especially in recent years. It seems everybody has an idea for what an ideal leader looks like, usually captured in some sort of clever acronym summarizing the key traits of a great one.

“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”[1] I have been thinking about this scripture a lot lately, usually when watching our president speak (or while reading his tweets). Others come to mind as well like, “A tree is identified by its fruit. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.”[2]

Jesus once said, ”You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!” (John 14:13-14). Wow. Sounds great! Sign me up! But is this all there is to it? Can I ask for anything and get it?

Rehoboth Beach, right by the sea; 25 hearts on the wall. My wife and my daughter, together with me; 25 hearts on the wall.

I went to my first church men’s retreat at the age of forty-six. Up to that point, I couldn’t be bothered with such things. I didn’t want to waste the time, share a room with someone, or spend the money. Even worse, I was self-righteous and didn’t think I needed to go. That began to change shortly after I arrived and the organizers showed a video entitled Flame.[1]