February E-News: Life is Precious! —Feb 2, 2009
"Little Whiskers" died last week. He was only 15 months old and the news hit our family hard. My youngest, Megan, took the news especially hard, just crying and crying over the loss. The truth is we all cried and grieved. It was a sad week in the life of our family. I dare say that there may never have been such love ever bestowed in all of history on one so cherished as Little Whiskers, our hamster.

January E-News: Exposing the Lies of Lust —Jan 2, 2009

The devil isn't creative, just persistent...

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I have come into contact with thousands of sex addicts over recent years. I myself was bound up in sexual addiction for 13 years. In all my interactions with the issue of sexual lust, I have come to realize one fundamental characteristic that is common to its nature: lies. There is never one moment in which lust tells you the truth. And it is this key insight that can actually help you break free from the chains of lust...for good.

December E-News: I Love You, Even Though... —Dec 2, 2008
Dinner time at my house almost always produces memorable moments. It is a time when our whole family gathers around the table to eat, pray, and talk about our day. I like to ask my kids about school and anything else they want to share about their day. I have had many enjoyable interactions at the dinner table, not to mention many hilarious moments as well. Recently, we were eating boneless chicken for dinner (this will have significance in a minute) when such a memorable, hilarious moment occurred.

November E-News: Faith is Universal —Nov 2, 2008
I can already hear the gasps among my fundamentalist friends as they read the title to this article. But don’t worry, my dear friends, I haven’t jumped ship on evangelicalism and adopted a “we’re all going to heaven” theology. No, I still believe the truth that there is only one way to eternal life and that way is by faith alone in Christ alone. So, this article is more about the exercise of faith in general than it is about faith in God (although general “faith” is ultimately meant to lead us to our Creator).

October E-News: For Better or For Worse —Oct 2, 2008

Marriage is hard work. Don't let anyone deceive you into thinking that marriage is all about feelings, romance, and endless smiles. While a relationship often begins with such superficial components, marriage is much deeper. Marriage is a covenant. 

What is a covenant?

September E-News: Many Connections, but Less Connected —Sep 2, 2008
Technology is great, it really is. I am thankful I live in a time in history where there is running water, electricity, climate control, automobiles, and air transportation. If my next meal depended on me having to kill it, skin it, and cook it, I might starve to death. It is truly remarkable what brilliant minds have produced in the last 150 years to improve our standard of living. But there is a very subtle danger in where this ongoing pursuit of greater technology can eventually take us as a society.

August E-News: Why Is Grace So Hard to Embrace? —Aug 2, 2008
There is no other doctrine, I believe, that is simultaneously the most difficult to understand and yet the easiest to receive than that of grace.  Denominations are split over it, pastors argue about it, cultures ignore it, and only a few ever truly embrace it.  Why is this one little word, this small, yet overwhelmingly powerful concept, so difficult to embrace?

July E-News: The Power of Friendship —Jul 2, 2008
I’ve been thinking lately about friendship and what makes it so powerful, so I thought I would share some thoughts rattling around in the tin cup of my mind. Friendship is a unique bond, somewhat hard to describe in academic terms or even to contain with words. To define friendship requires you to use words like “feel” and “kinda like” and “imagine.” But that is part of what makes friendship so powerful, it connects with a part of us that is unseen, a deep immaterial place where souls collide, yet in such a collision we find peace and rest and comfort.

June E-News: Why We Like Superheroes —Jun 2, 2008
My son, Ethan, loves superheroes!  His favorites include Superman, Spider-Man, and Aqua Man.  Bending the laws of physics is a regular habit of these superheroes.  They fly, shoot spider web silk out of their hands, and all other sorts of things “regular” human beings can’t do.  For little boys (and even us “big” boys) there is an attraction and even envy of these larger than life superheroes.  Why is that?

May E-News: Why Are We Not Ashamed? —May 2, 2008
Is there such a thing as healthy shame? I spend a lot of time in our ministry helping people overcome the negative effects of shame, the kind of self-loathing thinking that causes a person to believe that he or she is worthless. This kind of shame eats away at the core of a person's identity, stealing away the truth that God made man in His own image. A person can thus begin to believe that God made a mistake when He made them, and they therefore live their lives in a state of depression and despair. This is obviously unhealthy shame. But is all shame the same? Is all shame wrong or negative or unhelpful?

April E-News: Never Beyond the Fundamentals —Apr 2, 2008
I was an all-star basketball player in high school.  One of the highlights of my life was being selected to play in the Texas McDonald's All-Star Game my senior year.  It marked the pinnacle of success in my sport, and it will be a memory I always cherish.  But as I look back on that magical time in my sports career I learn a lesson about life that applies to my ongoing battle against lust and sexual addiction: I will never "graduate" from the fundamentals.

March E-News: The Pain of Silence —Mar 2, 2008

Why is God sometimes silent?

As life hurls its insults and barbs of pain, confusion, and unfairness, we turn to God, ready to hear the answers that will take it all away. We press our ear toward heaven, straining to hear the thunderous voice of God.  We brace ourselves for the overpowering insight we expect to fall upon us.  And then…

February E-News: Sex Does NOT Equal Happiness —Feb 2, 2008
Let me ask you a question that may appear to be setting up a zinger punch line for a joke, but I am actually being quite serious.  Have you gone two consecutive days in the last week without hearing or seeing an advertisement for either a male performance enhancement drug or some other sexual performance aid?  I wish there was a good joke here, but the truth is that our culture is saturated with a sexually addicted message: sex equals happiness.

January E-News: Overcoming the Power of Distraction —Jan 2, 2008
I think we can all agree that life is full of distractions.  And even if we can't agree that it is "full" of them, we can certainly agree that they are present in everyone's lives (to varying degrees).  For those brave few who have ventured into the wilderness of pursuing sexual purity, the term full more than accurately describes the degree to which distractions exist.  There are countless "other things" that are grabbing for our attention as we take each step toward a life of greater purity.