grumble rumble
Grumble Rumble is a website that allows you to air your complaints. It claims: “Our goal is to help you improve your life surroundings and reduce your stress by providing an easy, simple platform to register and resolve complaints.”
If there had been a website like this during Moses’ time, the Israelites would surely have been among its key patrons.…
November 22, 2011
Paul writes, “Give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20). Why are you thankful today?
thankfulness at midnight
Can you imagine? You’ve finally hit the sheets after a tough day, hoping for some respite from your stresses, your anxieties, your conflicts, possibly some physical pain. Yet, as so often happens when sleep doesn’t come swiftly, you lie awake. Have you ever noticed that a bad tooth, e.g., can feel worse when you try to go to sleep? As…
butterflies and breathing
As I stepped into The Butterfly Garden, a room populated with 800 colorful-winged beauties, a black and yellow specimen landed on the front of my shirt. We eyeballed each other. It wasn’t going to budge. Now, I’m not a huge fan of anything that resembles an insect—especially when I’m wearing it like a corsage, and especially when it’s the size…
tossing it back
During a Major League Baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals last summer, a man named Steve Monforto caught a foul ball as he sat in the bleachers. Since fans are allowed to keep balls hit into the stands, Monforto handed the prize catch to his 3-year-old daughter Emily. But instead of treasuring the gift, she innocently…
unclean, ungrateful, unusual
The husband and wife were desperate. Their only son had been in a coma for 2 months. The doctors weren’t sure what was slowly taking his life. Their brother-in-law, a believer in Jesus, brought them to his home church. The distressed couple heard the message of salvation and professed their belief in Jesus. They then asked the church to pray…
giving thanks
During winter in my part of the world, we don’t often get warm, sunny days. God blessed us with one of those days earlier this season. As I left the office to go home, a man said, “What a wonderful day we’re having. This is a gift from God.” I replied, “Yeah, but there’s going to be a major snowstorm…
street kid sabbatical
I have a soft spot for Uganda’s street kids and have tried to help many of them enter church-based programs that provide food, housing, school fees, and quality mentors. Often, such efforts are rewarding. Occasionally, however, the outcomes are deeply disappointing—particularly when the children I’ve loved and invested in end up stealing from me and returning to the streets.
Last…
the power of gratitude
Recent studies have shown that practicing gratitude leads to a healthier, more fulfilling, others-centered life. People who focus on what they are thankful for (versus those who dwell on hassles and frustrations) are in a better place than those who don’t. They are less likely to get sick and are more active, hopeful, and thoughtful of other people.
God desires…
bon mots
My grandmother's funeral provided the perfect opportunity to tell my great-aunt and uncle how much I appreciated them. When my grandmother had become a single parent, they had stepped in and included my young father in their family, taking him along on vacations and raising him as one of their own. So with tears in my eyes I thanked them…
