When I was a little boy, one of the most exciting events of the year was when the circus came to town. I can remember marveling at the towering tent being set up downtown and watching those magnificent elephants pull heavy ropes with such ease. Then they would take that same elephant, wrap a rope around its foot, and attach the other end to a little stake they had driven into the ground.

God weaves together His creation, He has woven in physical components that can serve as motivators to stir our affections for Him. God is sovereign over everything, even the seemingly mundane.

A moving story of love and grit is found in one of the worst tragedies of 1988. An earthquake ravaged the northwestern section of Armenia, killing around 25,000 people. In one of the small towns, right after the earthquake, a father hurried to his son's school only to discover that it had been completely destroyed.

“Jesus is either Lord of all or is not Lord at all.” I understand the heart and intention behind this statement, but it leaves room for a lot of misunderstanding.

We must be careful not to be too quick to slap the “fanatic” label on those who are zealous about their faith in Jesus. We can look at someone who lives out their faith in Jesus in extraordinary ways and think, "Man, that person is too much." But is there such a thing as too much when it comes to living for Jesus?

August 13th marks the anniversary of one of the most painful events of my life. It was 1982. I was 14 years old and about to begin my freshman year of high school when my older brother, who was eighteen and had just graduated a couple of months earlier, was killed in a car accident.

We’re all guilty of taking God’s common grace for granted from time to time. We live our lives on the brink of eternity, all the while oblivious to the fragility of our existence.

The Bible is very different from any other book we read because it's not just words on a page; rather, it is living and breathing.

The storms of life can strike out of nowhere without any warning. At times, you can be sailing along through life, and then, boom, everything is in complete chaos.

Have you ever had your plans interrupted by people in need? If you choose to live your life under the Kingdom authority rule of Jesus, you can count on Him to purposely send hurting people into your busy life to interrupt your plans.

If I had been with Paul and Barnabas on this mission, I would have been perplexed about what went wrong. I would have been thinking, “This can’t be God’s will. How could a loving God allow something so horrendous to happen to someone who loves Him so much—to a person who is sacrificing their entire life to share the gospel?”

As followers of Jesus, we are called to focus on the goodness of God, not because it's easy, but because through this discipline we are aligning our hearts with His purpose, His love, and His redemptive plan. Our broken strings can still produce beautiful music when they're placed in the master's hands.

The following Sunday morning, as I stood trembling before that small congregation, was a tipping point in my life. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this was the moment I was finally turning my heart in the direction of my Kingdom purpose.

For most Christians, it’s not that we’re loving the wrong things, but that we’re loving the right things in the wrong order.

Have you ever been scrolling through social media and ran across pictures of someone who had been in an accident, and they're sharing their gruesome pictures for all to see? As your stomach turns, you think, “Wow, that's ugly! I didn't really want to see that!"

A few years ago, Google did a study on selfies and reported that 93 million selfies are taken every day on Android devices alone.

Do you expect that if you do everything you can to follow God's Kingdom purpose for your life, everything will fall into place without any problems?

Have you ever misjudged someone's first impression based on their appearance, and wondered how Jesus calls us to see and love others without partiality?

Have you ever wondered why God hasn't given you more? More money, success, comfort, influence, and so on? One of the most dangerous things that can happen spiritually is when someone experiences worldly success.

Are you focusing on the exterior beauty of your spiritual well, neglecting the life-giving water of Jesus, or are you ready to keep the fresh water pumping daily to refresh, refuel, and rejuvenate your soul?