Please take a moment and reflect on the following question: How do I define the word “love?”

Dictionary.com says Love is “a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.” We all hunger for this type of love to be in our lives. We want it to be the foundation for our relationships with our spouses, children, parents and others. We want to love them with passionate affection. We need them to give us the same thing in return.

The sad truth is love doesn’t always work this way. There are times when love is based on tender, passionate affection but at other times this is lacking. To love someone else is to open ourselves up to joy and disappointment, happiness and pain, fulfilled dreams and, sometimes, disillusionment. As a quote from an anonymous source says, “Best feeling in the world; Being absolutely and utterly in love with someone. Worst feeling in the world; Being absolutely and utterly in love with someone.” (more…)

Some friends once asked Stephanie and I if we would like to spend a day boating with them on a lake. Stephanie couldn’t go because of a prior commitment but I happily accepted the invitation, even though my swimming skills are only slightly better than those of a gorilla.

When I arrived at the lake, our friends were waiting for me. We boarded the boat and headed out on the water. Eventually we found ourselves anchored in a cove where we had lunch. Afterwards, I was given a life vest to wear so I could join everyone else when they jumped off the back of the boat to go swimming.

I had worn a life vest once before. Years ago, when I was a youth leader, our youth group went kayaking. At one point, I overturned in a deep pool in the river. My life vest held me up for a few seconds until I floated to a spot where I could stand up. However, trusting a life vest to constantly hold me up in a lake is different than trusting it for a few seconds in a river.

I put on the life vest, walked to the back of the boat and watched everyone else jump into the water. At this point, I was faced with a decision. Would I trust the life vest enough to jump in? (more…)

Can you say, “There are areas in my life where I feel physically, mentally and/or spiritually tired?” If you said “yes” to this question, please let me ask you one more. “What are you doing about it? Are you doing the things you need to do or making the changes you need to make so you can have some rest in your life?

We know there are things in life that we need to do. We have to work for a living. Children need to be fed, clothed and nurtured. Relationships need attention if they are to flourish. It takes time and effort to live a healthy lifestyle. But does every moment of every day have to be scheduled with some type of work?

I believe author Crystal Paine is right. She says, “As a culture, we are addicted to adrenaline. We go, go, go. We do, do, do. And it’s as if the more we have on our to do list, the more important we are.” (more…)

One evening when our oldest daughter, Katie, was in first grade, she got very upset with something which happened at home. It just so happened her class was learning about maps at school that day and she brought one home. Since she was troubled with things at home and she had a map, she decided to run away. She later told us she didn’t know how to read the map or know where it would take her. But she had a map and she was going to use it.

If we’re not careful, we’ll do the same thing as Christians. We can get upset with something that happens at church, decide we’re better off on our own and then run away from church even though we have no idea where we’re going.

We all know people who have done this. Unfortunately, many of them are still living apart from a church congregation and their walk with Jesus is either weak or nonexistent. Unless we make an effort to guard our faith, the same thing can happen to you and to me. (more…)

If your children could look through a magic View Master and see the past, what events would they see? Would most of the images be of things you did well, such as showing love, being an encouragement and making sacrifices for them? Perhaps there would be too many pictures of times when you were too busy, too impatient or too insensitive? If we’re honest, most of us would probably have to admit it would contain a mixture of both.

Being a parent is one of the most rewarding and challenging things we will ever do. It’s a 24 hour-a-day, 7 day-a-week job that instantly switches from being joyous and happy to being nerve-wracking and stressful. And the job never ends – even after our children are grown. Thankfully the Bible does give us some principles that will help us be the best parents we can possibly be. (more…)

Attending college was a goal of mine when I was in high school. To help me get ready, I took college prep classes to prepare for the academic work. Participating in leadership positions in the various clubs not only helped make me a better person, it also made my college applications look better. One club which I felt was vitally important to have on my applications was the National Honor Society. So, during my junior year, I applied and was accepted into membership.

I looked forward to this club because I was friends with most of the other members. We ate lunch together, played sports together and hung out. But something changed when we gathered for our meetings. Some of them became snobs. To make matters worse, the club didn’t seem to have a purpose other than to puff up the members because they had good grades.

The longer I was part of this organization, the more I despised it. During my senior year, the club leaders organized an overnight trip to Marshall University so we could learn more about college life. I was the only member of the club who didn’t go. By this point, I was living in the fringes of this club. Yes, I was a member and attended the meetings but I didn’t really feel like I was part of the group.

It’s OK to be on the fringes of a high school club that really doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of life. It’s much different, however, to be on the fringes of a body created by God to help prepare its members for eternity. (more…)

This Christmas morning, as we celebrate the birth of our Redeemer and Deliverer, do we really want Jesus to take away the sin that is still in our lives? I’m not asking if we want salvation from Him. We all want that. Do we really want Him to come in and change the dark areas we still have in our hearts? After all, this is one of the reasons Jesus left the safety of heaven and came into our evil world.

Jesus, the Creator, Light and Life, came to displace the gloom that sin had cast on God’s creation. He came to bring us salvation. This includes removing the darkness we still carry around in us which tempts us to play around with sin and to ignore God. The truth is many Christians don’t want to let Jesus into these areas because they enjoy sin too much.

What if we want to let go of the struggles, pain and doubt that we still carry with us? How do we let Jesus into the dark areas of our heart? To answer this, let’s look at a Christmas passage in the Bible. (more…)

People have interesting hobbies. A friend of mine collects railroad memorabilia. I have a collection of Looney Tunes glasses from the 1970s and 80s on top of our kitchen cabinets. Some people enjoy buying and restoring old cars. Jim Otto, a member of our congregation, bought a 1930 Roadster to restore. When this car was new, the paint was perfect and there were no rust spots or dents in the metal. However, after decades of exposure to the weather, this car needed a lot of work to restore it to its original condition.

In the Old Testament, the new nation of Israel was once new and impressive. God brought the Jews out of slavery in Egypt and gave them the Promised Land. Once they settled there, they slowly rose in influence and grew in economic trade to become a powerful nation in the region. They were supposed to be a light for God so other nations would want to worship him too. Most of the Israelites didn’t do this. Many of them forgot God and began to follow the gods of the local people. (more…)

I had an opportunity last April to go to Turkey with a group that would visit historical sites in Istanbul as well as the sites of the 7 churches mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3. While I wanted to go, I was also concerned. ISIS was growing in size and strength. The cable news networks were filling the airwaves with stories about how many of the ISIS fighters were making their way into Iraq through Istanbul. Naturally, I had questions. I kept asking the trip leader, “Is it safe?” Every time I asked, I got the same response. “Yes, it is.”

After spending some time praying about it, I realized a few things. First, you can’t see the sites of the ancient church staying in Pennsylvania. You have to go to where they’re located. Second, I don’t want to be on my deathbed, reflecting back on my life and saying, “I should have gone to Turkey.” Third, if God was calling me to go, I needed to trust him – no matter what happened. (more…)

If you got a phone call right now from the United States Secret Service announcing the President was arriving at your house later today, what is the first thing you would do? The answer for most of us is the same. We’d make sure the house was clean and everything put in its place.

This is the type of announcement John the Baptist was making in Israel before Jesus began his ministry as the Messiah. The king is coming and we’d better get our house in order before he arrives. (more…)