I've recently been overwhelmed with seemingly endless opportunities to do good things. I've been weighing what to say yes to and what to say no to. Seems like every year of my life I have to say no to more good things.  

A friend recently asked me, "What would be some of the characteristics of the life of a person who is bearing their cross? (Matthew 16) What does this cross-bearer look like?"  

As Christians we have a dual citizenship. Just as He promises to make men and women new, God also promises to renew the Earth itself. Scripture calls this the New Earth, an Earth where “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” and “no longer will there be any curse” (Rev. 21:1, 4, 22:3, NIV).

In our last EPM quarterly newsletter I included an excerpt from Alex Harris’s The Myth of Adolescence. I’ve known the Harris family for many years. Gregg and Sono have been used of God to raise extraordinary children. 

The following twelve point cure for complaining is the Word of God’s corrective to the spirit of entitlement and ingratitude that’s poisoning our culture, and too often the church as well. 

“There is a God,” Portland Trailblazer head coach Nate McMillan said when Portland won the NBA draft lottery, giving our city the number one pick. It’s an understatement to say that event dominated news coverage here. Had Philadelphia been vaporized by aliens, it might have made page three.

Are you bored? Anxious? Toying with temptation? Looking for something new, exciting or enticing to satisfy some inner craving? Listen to those wants. They show you what you really desire: “...God is the answer to our deepest longings” I Corinthians 6:13 (Phillips).

God has given you your physical and mental and spiritual gifts, to provide you a platform from which to draw attention to Him and bring Him glory.

By removing eternal risk, Christ calls his people to continual temporal risk. For the followers of Jesus the final risk is gone.