“Read,” said Harold Ockenga, “to refill the wells of inspiration.”  Every year I catalogue the books I have digested over the past twelve months to see which ones have “filled up my wells.”  Not every book is helpful, not every author is accurate, and not every chapter is inspiring, but if you pick through enough books, you’ll eventually find something to eat.  Like a cheap buffet, sometimes you have to pass over a ton of food to get the right entrée on your plate.  You can’t take it all in, and you’re not supposed to.  Sir Francis Bacon said it …

God did not design us to be spiritual hermits who congregate with other spiritual hermits once a week in religious cathedrals.  No, He employs us to live out our Christianity in a world that desperately needs to see His love, His power, and His grace.  The believer is called to a daily, cross-bearing lifestyle, one that overtakes every area of our lives – even our jobs.

God has placed us in secular surroundings for His own glory and purpose in the world. Not everyone mounts a pulpit on a Sunday morning to proclaim an alliterated outline; but all of us, …

Rewind your mind back 50 years.  Imagine the kind of looks you would get if you made the following statements in that generation:

• Did you get my text message?
• Did you see the latest trending tweets?
• I was tagged in a photo
• My spam folder is full
• Hit me up on Snapchat

Social media has not only redefined our vocabulary, it has revolutionized the way we communicate with one another.  Our great-grandparents would think we have adopted an extraterrestrial language if they could hear the verbiage of this generation.  It’s inescapable, almost.  From the breaking news to the bothersome …

The news in our world has, of late, become increasingly worse.  One can take the Bible, open it up beside the daily paper, and see how the signs of the times are unfolding rapidly.  Wars, terrorism, pestilences, earthquakes, signs in the sky, and signs in the sea are not just coincidental occurrences.

Christ said that men’s hearts would fail them for fear as they looked upon those things that transpire in the earth.  Can you feel it?  Can you sense the global groaning and the public pandemonium?  The cosmos is in historic conflict.  The earth is shaking. The enemy is …

Webster defines the term “blind spot” as an area in which one fails to exercise judgment or discrimination.  It is literally a space in which one’s view is obstructed.  We all have them, and not dealing with them, especially on the road of ministry, can result in a fatal crash.  It’s always dangerous to swerve, but to swerve at the wrong time, into the wrong thing, is deadly.  That’s why we need a clear view, a view that reveals all angles at all times.

Blind spots are treacherous.  They conceal reality.  They fail to warn us, and protect us.  That …