Integrity, No Matter the Cost

Integrity is the art of modeling and managing trust in a superlative fashion. And yet owning it is one of the most challenging things any human can do. The toll depravity takes on the soul is such that being a steward of trust is nigh to impossible, certainly without any concerted effort. In a world where the READ MORE

When Your Adversary Roars

I was asked recently to share about the way spiritual warfare works in my own life. What a tough thing to tackle! Dare I be brutally honest, conveying the depths that I can go in my own struggle against the “cosmic powers over this present darkness” (Ephesians 6:12)? Generally speaking I shared along two lines. READ MORE

Ten Things I Learn When I Listen to God

There are those convictions that come along reminding me that I spend an awful lot of time talking to the Lord, but very little real time just listening. Reflecting on this sad reality brings to my mind the words of Isaiah 29:13, wherein the Lord says, “this people draw[s] near with their mouth and honor[s] READ MORE

Thoughts on Aronofsky’s “Noah”

Christa and I went to a late morning showing of Noah yesterday at the West Acres Cinema in Fargo. Honestly, it was better than I anticipated, and yet it fell well short of what it should have been. Some of the positive things about the movie, things that I frankly thought filmmaker Darren Aronofsky did READ MORE

“With You I Am Well Pleased”

When was the last time you really, truly felt loved and appreciated? Like you were special? That someone, anyone, really delighted in . . . well . . . you? The ancient Israelites wrestled with these questions. They felt forgotten. Abandoned. Lost and desperate. Isaiah 63:19 gives a hint of this, at which place their READ MORE

The Awful Pattern of Sin-Management

A simple review of the center of John’s gospel account gives us a glimpse into the awful drama of sin-management: Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary READ MORE