There is a powerful scene near the end of the movie The Kingdom of Heaven. Orlando Bloom plays the part of Balian, a blacksmith turned knight that has come to defend Jerusalem against the Muslim hoard that seeks to overthrow the Christian held city in the 12th century. All of the other knights have either… Continue Reading
He came to earth as a baby, knowing that someday he would be the savior of the world. His “earthly” parents took him to a small little town where he was raised in obscurity, almost secretive, growing stronger everyday and waiting for the right time to reveal his strength and special power to the world.… Continue Reading
There is a feel good movie from about 10 years ago called The Majestic. Jim Carrey played an amnesiac screen writer who stumbles into a small, depressed, down beaten town in Northern California. There are two prominent features of this little town, the dilapidated old, out of service theatre that once dominated the main street… Continue Reading
I spent my high school years in Myrtle Beach. Back then it was a sleepy, empty town about 6 months of the year that exploded into a people polluted tourist trap from March to September. The first wave of tourists were the Canadians that began trickling in about late February and arrived in earnest by… Continue Reading
I am not a man of peace. I can get frantic with the best of them. Too much to do. Not enough going right. Details to oversee and outcomes to control. Life is about crisis management and I am an A-1 crisis kind of guy. (Most of the crises I manage are of my own… Continue Reading
I have been sick for a week. Not the call in the family and get your affairs in order kind of sick but certainly get a shot in the rear, crawl in bed, and feel like I have to get better to do the first part kind of sick. The doctor said it was strep.… Continue Reading
This is from a guy in our Tuesday morning group that is just coming alive in Christ. It is a blast to watch. He’s out of town this week so he wrote this response. I love the simple direct wisdom: In the prior passage Paul reminds us that we are waiting for something we are… Continue Reading
I meet with a group of men on Thursday morning. They are good guys, every one of them. Varied backgrounds, ages, and places in their Christ journey. They speak to me every week, teach me things, challenge me to do better, be better. They have become brothers. Some days we wax eloquent with deep, theological… Continue Reading
I have always dreamed of a little cabin in the woods. My friend Robert says, “Mike, you are so optimistic. You are the only person I know who calls a storage shed a cabin.” Nevertheless, I managed to get a little building and put it on a small piece of land we have in the… Continue Reading
It is that creepy time of the year, or should I say of the 14th year. Every 14 years or so a swarm of cicadas crawl out of their burrows and up onto trees, lamp posts, porch swings and slow moving children. They deposit their empty shells and emerge as red eyed, big headed, weed… Continue Reading