Intimate Communication

You who are parents need to think it over . . . to come to terms with this business of communicating openly, tactfully, and intelligently with your children in the areas of intimacy. lt’s a parental task that must be handled with great care and wisdom—but it must be handled. Obviously, it is not to be directed only toward the girls, but to boys as well. Nor should it be communicated only by mothers, but by both parents. God’s beautiful plan regarding conception and birth needs to be shared from a balanced perspective.

The Need for Integrity

Leaders with power and brains are common. So are leaders with riches and popularity. But a competent leader full of integrity and skill, coupled with sincerity, is rare indeed.

Joyful Generosity

Thoughts disentangle themselves . . . over the lips and through the fingertips. I learned that saying over thirty years ago, and just about every time I put it to the test, it works! Whenever I have difficulty comprehending the complicated or clarifying the complex, I talk it out or write it out.

New Hope

Floundering with my father is among my most cherished childhood memories. Armed with a beat-up Coleman lantern, two gigs, a stringer . . . we’d head to the water. When the sky got nice ‘n’ dark, we’d wade in about knee-deep and stumble off into the night.

Witnessing

Various methods are employed to communicate the good news of Christ to the lost. Take the Eager-Beaver Approach, for example. “The more scalps, the better.” This numerical approach is decision-centered, and little (if any) effort is directed toward follow-up or discipleship or cultivating a relationship.

A Survival Secret

One winter day while a Chilean peasant was tending his cattle along a long, deep gorge in a remote area of the Andes, he saw two gaunt, bearded figures across the chasm. Thinking they were terrorists, he ran and hid. The next day he returned and saw they were still there. He quickly gathered a pencil, some paper, and a stone, wrapped them in a handkerchief, and heaved them across to the strangers.

Doing the Unexpected

There are various ways to describe it: turning the other cheek . . . going the extra mile . . . doing good to those who hate us . . . loving our enemies. We may say it in different ways, but the action amounts to the same thing. By doing the unexpected, we accomplish a twofold objective: (1) we put an end to bitterness, and (2) we prove the truth of the age-old axiom, love conquers all. I’ve seen it happen over and over again.

The Final Toll

Sleep came hard for me last night. Earlier that evening, Cynthia and I had read together a letter from our long-time friend Wally Norling, who had just returned from the bedside of Betty, his “loving partner in life for forty-two years.” Betty is dying of cancer of the liver, and Wally’s letter, written in the midst of that, was a gracious, understated masterpiece of faith.

Stresses That Fracture

Stress: that confusion created when one’s mind overrides the body’s desire to choke the living daylights out of some jerk who desperately needs it. No, you won’t find that definition in the dictionary, but right now, I think it should be. It’s been one of those weeks. Know what I mean?

Admitting Need

Asking for help is smart. So why don’t we? You want to know why? Pride. Which is nothing more than stubborn unwillingness to admit need. The result? Impatience. Irritation. Anger. Longer hours. Less and less laughter. No vacations. Inflexibility. Longer and longer gaps between meaningful times in God’s Word. Precious few (if any) moments in prayer and prolonged meditation.

Category Archives: Christian Living