The past few decades, our society has seen a lot of progress in a lot of areas. We’ve made huge technological and medical advances, and we’ve seen many social issues aggressively pursued. But there’s one area in which we’ve gone backward—one toward which I really believe we need to turn our focus. Marriage and family. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that...
My late father-in-law, John Osteen, is still my favorite minister to have ever preached. One of the best phrases he used was one about success. It went something like, "When climbing the ladder of succcess, be careful you don't get to the top, only to find you're leaning against the wrong wall." In other words, live intentional. Invest in the...
There are times in all of our lives that we’d give almost anything for a do-over. Unfortunately, do-overs typically don’t just appear out of thin air, no matter how hard we wish for them. But when you tap into the grace that Jesus gives, you do get a second chance. The thing about Jesus’ do-overs is that they don’t happen...
My senior year in college, my roommate was a premed student. He was a senior and had just been accepted into medical school, where he would have to endure three more intense years. Because he knew about stress all too well, he decided to do his senior research paper on the effect that it can have on our bodies. Here’s how...
Never settle. I’m sure we’ve all had that phrase spoken to us at one time in our life to the other. It’s usually spoke by people who really, truly love us, ones who don’t want us to experience less than God’s best for our lives. The sad truth is that many of us do settle, and we do so for a...
If you’re reading this, it’s safe to assume that you’re processing some bad news in your life. Maybe even quite a bit of it. The older I get, the more I realize something about this bad news. Our lives are less defined by the news itself and more defined by how we handle it. Do we believe to get past...
I love a good book. But I admit— sometimes I turn to the back to make sure I know how the ending will turn out before I invest myself into its pages. Some say it ruins it; I say it gives me incentive to keep reading. Just like in a book, in life, when you know how the story ends,...
Most of us grew up on shows like Friends, Seinfeld and Cheers. The latter was one of my favorites, probably because I loved the theme song so much. I’ll never forget the jingle, “Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came…” When you stop and think about it though, those words really ring...
Let’s be honest. These days, it’s hard to take things at face value. To trust what people say. It’s hard to know if people really have your best interest in mind. However, there is one that we can fully trust— every word, every action, even every intention. You know who I’m talking about. His name is Jesus. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us, “Trust...
I loved going to the carnival growing up. We had one in our town, and each year, nearly everyone would come out and enjoy the fun rides and great food. There was one section that always cracked me up (and gave me a good reason to laugh at my sisters) — the room with the distorted mirrors. Have you ever...