I used to be afraid to talk to people. As a young person I was extremely shy and introverted around people I didn't know. I would marvel at my extroverted friends and their ease at engaging almost anyone in conversation, but that skill seemed to elude me. Then I met Jesus. When I entered into…

In a mission-minded family, there’s a God-infused energy. There’s a focus on God’s worldwide purpose, and there’s a passion for the lost. There’s a spiritual depth and hunger that reaches beyond the maintenance mode of cultural Christianity. A mission-minded family emphasizes leadership, calling, and destiny. There’s a prevailing attitude of self-sacrifice and an emphasis on…

Curling my little legs up to my chest, I snuggled deep into the couch, my Beauty and the Beast comforter hedging my eight-year-old self in. Book in hand, I drift out of this world and into another one filled with new people and places. As a child, I loved the characters in my books. They…

I was walking through a back alley in Old Delhi, India. Electric wire twisted and turned above me like jungle vines while street vendors stood in dark corners, trying to shade their raw meat from the blazing sun. Street children ran to and fro, some stopping to beg for any loose change we might toss…

We know we’re to be kind to one another. We know we’re supposed to be tenderhearted. We know we are to forgive one another even as God has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32). And as we watch our sons and daughters interact with others, we truly desire that they’ll grow into those kind, tenderhearted people who…

I believe that one of the essential jobs of the local church is to equip Christian parents to take the lead in spiritually training their children. Passing faith to our kids is not the church's job - it is ours. But what about all the unsaved kids who don't have Christian parents to disciple them?…

On his final journey toward Jerusalem, Jesus and His disciples left Capernaum and crossed into the region of Judea. As they entered a village, parents started bringing their children to Jesus, asking Him to lay hands on them and bless them. The Bible doesn’t say why the disciples got upset, but they began to rebuke…

It was one of those nights on the Canadian prairies. The violent thunderclaps, flashing lightning and gale force winds had brought us to this place – hiding in the basement. Why the basement? My mother had a profound fear of thunderstorms and the further she could get from the noise and tumult of the storm,…

I was born and raised in California. Seasons never quite made sense to me when I lived there. There was warm, hot, and hotter … with a few days of cool Santa Anna winds and the spring showers of February and March to spice things up every now and again. But then my life course…

I am grateful to God that I have always been able to go generic. The rest of my family doesn’t use generic products. My wife uses expensive shampoo, sold only at the beauty shop. Next to her exotic brand sits my own luxury bottle: “Big Blue Dandruff Shampoo.” She has specialized hairspray and I have…