September 24, 2012 in
communication, God's Way for Our Congregations, God's Way for Our Family, God's Way for Our Lives, Personal Responsibility, Relationships with
“I can’t believe it you @#$&%$. I had right of way you *&%$@#*&. Where did you learn how to drive you stupid &%$#+$@?” And all this from the mouth of a Christian gesturing with his hand, as John Maxwell says, that the other driver is number 1. When called on the carpet for such a blatant violation of James 3:6-12, the brother or sister responds, “I can’t help myself. When someone pulls out in front of me, it just flies all over me. I have to do something.” That seems natural. It seems almost logical. We may even want to make an exception to God’s will about the tongue in this situation. But do we really have to do this kind of something? Or can we actually overcome road rage and other irrational expressions of emotion?
Yes, we can overcome. Keep reading to find out how.
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September 19, 2012 in
communication, God's Way for Our Congregations, God's Way for Our Family, God's Way for Our Lives, Husbands, Marriage, parenting, Personal Responsibility, Relationships, Wives with
It happened again. You didn’t mean to say anything. You knew it would blow everything up. But someone had to do something. Someone had to man up and put so and so in his/her place. You were the only one with the guts to do it. You hated to hurt feelings, but someone had to say out loud what everyone else was thinking. And now, it’s all over but the crying. It doesn’t matter who is the other person in this scenario, husband, wife, child, parent, brother, sister, church-member, co-worker, employee, boss. It’s now a mess. The emotional mess is all over the place. There is psychological blood running on the floor. And now you wish you hadn’t said it, but you just didn’t know what to do. Someone had to say something. The question is did they have to say what you did?
Let’s talk about that.
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February 16, 2012 in
Christian living, God's Way for Our Lives, Growth, Honesty, Overcoming Sin, Relationships, Shame, Spiritual Growth, Victory in God with
On April 26, 2003, Aron Ralston was trapped between a rock and a hard place. Hiking and rock climbing alone in Eastern Utah, his right hand was crushed between a shifting boulder and the rock wall. Over a period of five days he made various attempts to free himself. Nothing worked. When he ran out of his water supply, he was certain of death.
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January 24, 2012 in
communication, God's Way for Our Family, God's Way for Our Lives, Honesty, Marriage, parenting, Relationships with
So, last Thursday night, our exchange daughter, Viktoria, came out of the bathroom. “Edwin, you need to see this!” The shower stall was filled with water backed up from a clogged drain, the sink was filling up as well, and the toilet was leaking water from underneath the base. Oh, great! Yep, you guessed it. Blocked up septic system. The septic guy came out Friday morning, cleaned it out, and said we should think about using different toilet paper. I got to thinking about how this mirrors a lot of troubled relationships.
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January 11, 2012 in
book reviews, communication, God's Way for Our Congregations, God's Way for Our Family, God's Way for Our Lives, Growth, Husbands, Marriage, Raising Kids, Relationships, Wives with
Last week was New Year’s and many of us resolved to watch less tv, read more books. Whether or not that’s the case for you, if you only have one book that you have time to read this year…well, of course, make it the Bible. But if you have time to read two books this year, I’d like to make a recommendation: How to Have That Difficult Conversation You’ve Been Avoiding
by Drs. Cloud and Townsend.
Check out the video review by clicking the link below.
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November 11, 2011 in
Christian living, Fathers, God's Way for Our Lives, Honesty, Husbands, Manhood, Marriage, Relationships, Sex and Sexuality with
***WARNING: This is the third of three posts on this topic and I will repeat my warning. This post will be specific, factual, and even explicit. However, I will try not to be gratuitous or graphic. But if you normally let your kids read these posts, you may want to read it first. If you’re good with that, then click the “Continue Reading” link below.
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November 10, 2011 in
Christian living, God's Way for Our Lives, Growth, health, Honesty, Husbands, Manhood, Marriage, Relationships, Sex and Sexuality with
***WARNING: This is the second in a series of three posts on this topic. And I repeat yesterday’s warning. This post will be specific, factual, and even explicit. However, I will try not to be gratuitous or graphic. But if you normally let your kids read these posts, you may want to read it first. If you’re good with that, click the “Continue Reading” link below.
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November 9, 2011 in
addiction, Christian living, God's Way for Our Lives, health, Husbands, Manhood, Marriage, Relationships, Sex and Sexuality with
***WARNING: The trouble with writing on this topic is it needs to be done, but it is hard to do so in the confines of propriety. This post will be specific, factual, and even explicit. However, I will try not to be gratuitous or graphic. But if you normally let your kids read these posts, you may want to read it first. If you’re up for that, then click the “Continue Reading” link below.
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October 31, 2011 in
Blessing, Forgiveness, God's Way for Our Lives, Relationships with
Romans 12:18 says, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” We’ve all heard this verse. I for one am convinced I live by this verse. After all, all my conflicts are someone else’s fault, right? But Matthew 7:1-5 says I should be more concerned about the log in my own eye than the speck in yours. Maybe I need to dig a little deeper and examine myself a little more closely.
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April 15, 2011 in
Being human, Christian living, God's Way for Our Lives, Growth, Lies Christians Believe, Making Mistakes, Relationships, Spiritual Growth with
Satan is the Father of Lies (John 8:44). His master plan is to lie to us and get us to believe his lies. No doubt, some lies deal with issues of false doctrine. But that isn’t what I want us to consider in this series of posts. Rather, Satan sometimes realizes he can’t devour some Christians with doctrinal error. Instead, he tries something more insidious, something capable of knocking us completely off our spiritual feet. If we believe these lies, we will be taken captive and destroyed.
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