What Christian is not frustrated in trying to live a godly life? Why is it so hard? For starters, we are flawed. We enter the world dripping wet with a sin nature and from the very outset need God’s grace. A baby’s temper tantrum was not learned behavior it was already ingrained. We grow up enamored with the world’s offerings—what man is not drawn to lust after a sensual woman or...
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Kevin and I prayer walk an asphalt trail that is about 3/4ths of a mile around a church, a wooded area and large field. This morning I noticed big paw tracks from a dog that extended for quite a ways along the trail. If I was trained, I could tell by the size of the prints the approximate size of the dog that left its mark. Instead I could only see the obvious—a dog walked in a muddy field...
In football, when a player taunts an opposing player after tackling him or completing an exceptional play, if the referee sees or hears the infraction it often costs the team a fifteen yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Choosing to gloat is not very smart. Why give the other team momentum and the possibility of winning a game? Gloating is taking excessive pleasure in another’s adver...
Curiosity is a powerful thing. If you are in a group and happen to notice two people whispering to each other don’t you have an urge to know what they are saying? We don’t typically like it when people keep from us secrets. Nor do we appreciate it when those who are in charge withhold information we would like to know. I remember the stress on Matt and Angie, our neighbors, when Nike w...
Brian dreamed for a long time of building a house for his family on a wooded, five-acre plot of land nestled within the city. Notice I used the word dreamed. Brian did not just want to put up a simple home for his family of five. He wanted to build a ten-thousand square foot ministry center. I remember many of us thought he was overreaching. Why not just build a modest home and then as G...
I met Lam in a dining facility at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. As we were chatting I asked him when he came to the United States. Lam escaped from Viet Nam at the age of eleven with an uncle and his older brother. His parents were afraid that when he turned thirteen he would be forced to serve in the military and potentially die or come back maimed as so many of their countrymen who were forced as...
There is a Kenyan proverb that states “A satisfied man does not know another one is hungry.” Imagine spending seventy years of life under the oppressive hand of communism. The shackles of tyranny were so severe that today in the nation of Georgia the majority of those who hold leadership positions are under the age of forty. Those who are over forty were so impacted by Soviet rule that the...
The cockpit of a C17 military transport aircraft is amazing. As the two young Air Force Captains went through their preflight checklist, I was astounded by all the instruments they and their crew chief had to monitor and operate before we could taxi down the runway in Stockholm. While I watched from my rear perch, I listened on headphones to the tower. The chatter from the air traffic contro...
Eighteen of us sat around the circular table in the conference room of the Military Academy located in Gori. For several hours we met with different deputies from the Ministry of Defense and listened as they shared the challenges of living within field artillery range of Russian guns. Their fear of angering their neighbor and again losing their freedom is fueled by Russia’s occupation in 200...
Stockholm Palace is located on Stadsholmen in Gamla Stan (the old town). The first building was a fortress with a tower built in the 13th century by Birger Jarl to defend Lake Malaren. Ever since the early 16th century, the palace has been guarded by members of the Swedish Armed Forces. Several times a week a special changing of the guard is observed by the public. At 1:00 p.m., I listened t...
