There are some moments in life you never forget. They become embedded pictures in your mind, even when the details grow fuzzy. My first visit to an African marketplace did it for me. The year was 1986. Only a few months in the capital city of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, a friend took me to the … More First Impressions
Today would have been his 73rd birthday. This day comes now with a bitter-sweetness that is hard to shake, but the Lord has made this one especially sweet, so I want to tell you about it. As pilgrims on this journey, we do not always have the joy of seeing the results of the seed-sowing … More The Best Gift
I was on the road today to share with a church in Cleveland, Tennessee. Southern Baptists are so good to not only pray and give to missions, locally, statewide, nationally and globally, but to seek out real-live people to share with their congregations, in order to put a face to what they are a part … More This is my story
You never know what’s going to happen when you pray. As many of you know, I love Muslims, have given most of my life in serving among Muslims, and spend a lot of time writing and talking about Muslims. All of this is with the goal of seeing them come to Christ and His Church … More The language doesn’t matter
If he knows the number of hairs on my head, oh, how he puts together the finest details of our lives to his glory. This is what happened tonight; and I sit back in awe of the God I’m not worthy to serve. Though I’m not helping with VBS this week at our church, I … More The God of details
Read Judges 21:25. Have you ever been in a place in your life where things just seem to go from bad to worse? I think that sometimes, when I look at the world today. I wonder, “how much worse can it get?” It was like that in the days of ancient Israel. Once the people … More From bad to worse
There’s a lot of free-flowing judgment happening in our country these days. Whether from talking heads on news broadcasts, editorials and opinion pieces in the papers, from “friends” on Facebook, or in the Twitter-sphere, it seems everyone is capable of pronouncing judgment on someone else. And the punishments can be severe. Even if the self-made … More When judgment comes
You never know when God is going to surprise you. I had a beautiful surprise today–in fact, it gave me such joy, I shed tears while at my desk at work. Today, through a simple forty-five second voice message, a dear sister refreshed my soul. She knew of Raouf’s love for the Libyan people. She … More Good news from a distant land
It’s really simple, and if you are like me this week, you received a major reminder of that in the announcement of a man’s death. His name was Billy Graham. What’s simple? The Gospel message. What have I done? Allowed Satan to complicate matters: It’s hard to share with certain people groups. People will not … More The Devil’s in the Complications
I debated accepting. After all, it was only ten minutes. Was it really worth the drive? As I thought about the invitation to drive to a small town church, I heard a voice reminding me: “Didn’t you ask me to expand your speaking opportunities this year? Maybe it’s more about making connections than speaking.” So, … More Nothing by chance
