Ever since college I have made fasting a regular part of my spiritual discipline. It really has been a journey for me. The journey has had lots of ups and downs. It ranged from hating it with a passion to enjoying the time of purification and dependence on God. Now that we are fully underway […]
Gator-Nation?
AP Photo I did stay up and watched not only the championship game, but I watched the post-game interviews and comments. There were the black strips for the eyes with John 3:16, the “I want to thank Jesus, my Lord and Savior” comments, but the thing that captured my attention was […]
A Leadership Moment
AP Photo As President Bush is coming to a close of his tenure in the Oval Office, he called together all the living president together with the president-elect Obama for lunch at the White House. Regardless of your political persuasion, what President George W. Bush did yesterday was a powerful illustration […]
Photojournalism at Its Best
There is something powerful about photos and pictures and how they are able to capture a moment in history. The famous phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words” is so aptly used to describe how a single picture can tell a powerful story. When a single picture is able to move me, then I […]
Preparing for “The Awakening Movement”
There has been a lot of discussion on this journey that our church will be taking with other churches around the world. For 21 days, we will join the movement of God’s people fasting and praying together. As we start off this new year, we are reminded that we need to depend on God for […]
Athletes and Giving Jesus Praise
We have all heard it before. The athlete after a victory (usually the one that made the difference in the game) is asked by the sports’ reporter about the game and the response is something like, “First of all, I want to give thanks to Jesus Christ because without Him none of this would be […]
Lessons from a Life-Long Soccer Player
This past Christmas, our family and extended family all gathered together at my cousin’s place. I think their house was the only one big enough to hold all of us together. It was a great time of reconnecting with everyone, as well as enjoying a great home cooked meal – they always go all out. […]
Invested Sermon Series
We are starting a new sermon series for this New Year. As the staff and I have been praying and thinking about this coming year, we came to the conclusion that we needed to start off this season of ministry addressing the topic of investment. We must never forget this principle: […]
Earthquakes and Indonesia
I keep on forgetting that the various islands of Indonesia are located in the infamous Ring of Fire. This causes some of the greatest volcanic eruptions, as well as strong earthquakes. It is recorded that majority of the earthquakes and some of the greatest earthquakes in magnitude occur in this region. Even today, in the […]
The Infamous Nigerian Scam
KATU News Photo Every time I hear or read about another “victim” of the Nigerian Scam, it drives me up the wall. First of all, the lure of $25 million dollars especially in an economy like this is pretty tempting, but I think it hits a nerve in some of us […]
New Year Goals
I have always been a firm believer in goals. The infamous quote, “Aim at nothing and you will hit it every time” always proves to be true time and time again. It’s amazing how a person who comes up with goals, writes it down, and takes steps to actualize it is the one that makes […]
The 2008 Year Reflection
As I take some time to reflect on this past year, my heart is filled with praise for God’s faithfulness and favor. I had an opportunity to look over all my blog post for the 2008 year and I realized that God has been good. So often when we don’t write things down, we forget […]
Weddings and Spiritual Orphans
It doesn’t seem too long ago that I was courting Christina and getting married to the woman of my dreams. Now, most of my friends (if not all) are married and have children. It seems as if I have come full circle now that some of the members in our church are getting engaged and […]
Post-Christmas Gathering
Yesterday, the family and I headed out to the west suburbs to hang out with some other pastors and their families. It is a special thing when you have friendships that have been built for over 25 years. Not only are we friends but partners in the ministry. We did a post-Christmas gift exchange by […]