It’s Friday…It’s Going To Be Okay

World peace. Everyone, from presidents to protestors to front-line soldiers to Miss America, crave it. We all want to lie down at night knowing that people won’t be killed tomorrow. We all want national security, not to mention families that get along. We all want every bomb and all the arguments to go away. MostlyContinue reading “It’s Friday…It’s Going To Be Okay”

It’s Friday…We Are Never Victims

Weak leaders seem to be a-plenty these days. Perhaps because we, as a culture, have a weak view of God? Our culture’s popular image of God is of a weak, passive grandfather figure who won’t or can’t confront the evils of our age. But that’s not so of the God of the Bible. He’s aContinue reading “It’s Friday…We Are Never Victims”

It’s Friday…It’s a Strange Place To Be

Delight and Fear. These are strong words that carry strong emotion. To the human mind, they seem utterly contradictory. We’re well familiar with fear, and it’s anything but delightful. It ties our stomach in knots, raises the hairs on our necks, and keeps us awake at night. We spend long hours turning over every futureContinue reading “It’s Friday…It’s a Strange Place To Be”

It’s Friday…Get Used To It

It’s Independence Day weekend in America. In the ideal world, we would all love to live in a place where not only are we free, but everything is free too. That place one day will exist, guaranteed. Imagine living in a world where no money is needed. Everyone is industrious, not from a sense ofContinue reading “It’s Friday…Get Used To It”

It’s Friday…Everything is Always Someone Else’s Fault

Did you watch the Presidential debate? There was a lot of finger pointing going on, huh? Their performance confirms that we are a society of victims. That’s what happens when a culture emphasizes human rights over human responsibilities. Both are important, but one without the other has tragic consequences. Focusing on responsibility to the exclusionContinue reading “It’s Friday…Everything is Always Someone Else’s Fault”

It’s Friday…Don’t Squander Glory on Garbage

Imagine having the world’s most valuable masterpiece, a work of art that would bring 30 and 40 million dollars if you auction it. Then imagine, instead of talking that masterpiece to the auction, you took it to the pawn shop, pawned it for 20 bucks, and blew the whole wad on crayons and paper soContinue reading “It’s Friday…Don’t Squander Glory on Garbage”

It’s Friday…He’s Already There

It’s Father’s Day weekend. If God were like a watchmaker who wound up the universe, His heart would not yearn. If He were like a CEO, He would be more preoccupied with profit than compassion. If He were like a landlord, He would let us come and go without much fanfare. But He is noneContinue reading “It’s Friday…He’s Already There”

It’s Friday…Survive the Wilderness

Twice between Egypt and the Promised Land, the Israelites grumbled about their lack of water in the wilderness. Both times, God brought water out of the rock, satisfying the thirst of a whining people. It was a merciful response to a slanderous charge. When God’s people are dehydrated and grumpy about it, God rains graceContinue reading “It’s Friday…Survive the Wilderness”

It’s Friday…Let’s Be The Clay That Bends

Repentance. It’s a much-maligned word. It sounds so harsh and painful, even condemning, doesn’t it? Those connotations don’t go over well in a laid back, life’s-a-beach culture of tolerance like ours. Repentance implies that something is wrong with us and we’re going to have to deny ourselves of something we treasure in order to change.Continue reading “It’s Friday…Let’s Be The Clay That Bends”

It’s Friday…Soldiers Who Died

It is Memorial Day weekend. One of the most moving stories I’ve ever heard took place on June 21, 2006, in the Nuristan Province of Afghanistan, Staff Sergeant Jared Monti’s sixteen-man patrol came under fire. One of his men was wounded and fell over a ridge into what the soldiers described as a “death zone.”Continue reading “It’s Friday…Soldiers Who Died”