When I was a child, the neighbor boy flashed some flashy magazines at me.

We were underneath the trees that bordered my yard. The shade cast dark shadows on us, which concealed our activity. He didn’t tell me these magazines were forbidden, but I sensed it in the hushed secrecy of the shadows.

Time stood still, pregnant with exhilaration and danger. We could be caught. But it didn’t matter, this I had to see. At that point, I was too young for my parents to have considered giving...

When you feel unworthy of God’s love, think about this:

Not all feelings can be trusted. They come and go as the wind blows. They can lead you astray. Feelings are not your true north.

God will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). He has compelled himself to obey His own Word because God never breaks His promises. God’s Word says He will never leave you, so He won’t.

God’s love is not based on your own nature or ability or goodness—it’s based on...

I came across the speech I wrote as a senior in high school. That was 1995 and I was 17. Popular were the “Things I Learned…” books, so in 1995 I wrote the 95 things I’ve learned so far. Here they are in original form, that is, unedited. I still agree with most of them, although I would love to rewrite a few.

When I was assigned to write a speech about my experiences thus far, I immediately felt overwhelmed. How could I possibly include every moment that has been...

I read the story of a man who was accused of a crime he didn’t commit, and because he didn’t have fancy lawyers, he went to prison.

He spent 19 years there, and although he didn’t do what they say he did, he decided to make the most of it. He learned to speak Spanish and play seven instruments and earned a college degree.

He came up for parole four times, and even though he learned to do these civilized things and behaved well, they weren’t good enough reasons for the...

I was recommended a jolly, little book called Rejoicing in Christ, written by Michael Reeves. I have to tell you—there are passages that cause my heart to pound faster, like there’s a little drummer boy inside me, and I have to stop and take a breath.

Reeves has hit upon a nerve, a deep place in which deep calls out to deep. In this blog post, I want to share a passage of his and make some critical observations about the danger in spiritual growth.

I have read this passage seven...

Dec. 30, 2019

On Christmas Day, I went to the emergency room with pain in my left chest and trouble breathing. After a series of scans and blood tests, the doctors concluded I had a blood clot in my left lung. Officially it's called a pulmonary embolism.

"So I won't be going home tonight?" I asked.

The doctor's serious, I-know-more-than-you look on his face answered the question.

Apparently a pulmonary embolism is serious. Each year 60,0000 - 100,000 people die from it and it calls for...

A few months ago, I received an email from a young man who was desperate. Suffering from two chronic injuries, he was forced to lay on his back all day long. He felt isolated and hopeless, and asked if I would seek God for a word for him. He wasn’t sure he was hearing from God clearly.

So I agreed but went a step further. I took some guys to his house to pray with him. Since then, he’s become a good friend, and although we’ve continued to pray for healing, he hasn’t...

Note: This guest post is an open letter from my wife to the members of the Penn State fraternity in our hometown, who photographed nude pictures of unconscious women and posted them online.

March 20, 2015

Dear Young Men of Kappa Delta Rho,

Take a moment and dream with me:

It’s graduation. You worked this season the hardest you knew how. So you graduate, celebrate, say goodbye to the chapters of your life you will never redo again. Excited because you got a job in your field. Not a dream...

Note: I had the deep honor of delivering the eulogy at Grandpa Jack’s funeral.

October 28, 2011
Allentown, PA

I’m glad you’re here today.

A few years ago, Jack gave me a clock. His father gave it to him. It was a desk clock and originally had little arms on which it rested. But the arms had fallen off, so I made it into a pocket watch. A picture of it is in your program.

On a recent visit, I showed it to Jack. He held it, swirling the circumference with his fingers. “I...

(January 15, 2016)

One finds difficulty putting words to an entire life. It’s like trying to describe the smell of the beach air at the Jersey Shore, where we learned to fish, or to capture the cabiney smell of Mountain Springs Lake, where we would catch turtles and race them, or to explain the tantalizing smell of Pat’s brownies and then the sight of brownie blocks crisply wrapped in tin foil—the assurance you were being given a very special gift for the road, and not just...