Devotion

Last weekend, I went to lunch with some folks from my Saturday softball league. The conversation varied from sports to politics, and eventually to religion. One man, a slightly agitated unbeliever, sought to disprove the divinity of Christ by asking, "If Jesus is really God, then why did he say 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' as He was about to die?"

In 1987, "What a Wonderful World" ironically appeared during a scene of violent destruction in the war movie "Good Morning, Vietnam." Here, the song served as a tool of shame, showing the viewers how humanity destroys the very creation that it enjoys...The problem is, he got it all wrong.

There’s a huge difference between existing and living. I think of this difference as “living to exist” versus “existing to live.”

Do you know anyone who claims to be a Christian but his or her life rarely shows any evidence of it? You know the type. If you corner him on the subject, he’ll tell you he’s a Christian. But outside that conversation, his spiritual life seems hidden from view. In short, he claims Christ, but he doesn’t proclaim Christ.

What would you do if you woke up tomorrow and you were a different person? I’m not talking about science-fiction body swapping, where you exchange names and bodies with someone else. Instead, you wake up with the same life, but everything about your personality has changed.

In 1984, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas collaborated to release the popular movie, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I was ten years old at the time...

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to do nothing? Have you ever noticed how easy it is to be nothing that truly matters? Think about it for a moment or two. What takes up the moments of your day? The Apostle Paul points out how God views those who live for the world's distractions.

Being an Arizona native and a desert rat at heart, I was used to things the way they are most of the time here: dry, dusty, and—did I mention—dry? Rain just seemed always to have a way of screwing things up for my friends and me.

Do you consider yourself a patient person? Or do you find you get frustrated because things just seem to move too slowly around you?

I recently took a trip to the Hawaiian island of Molokai. The people of Molokai consider themselves the friendliest and most authentically Hawaiian of all the isles. Their history is filled with sorrow and loss, and I asked Michael why the Hawaiian people allowed this to happen. He told me simply that the Hawaiians are filled with the spirit of aloha.