There is a saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” In other words, perspective matters. How we choose to view a situation is vitally important. We control that perspective. The apostle Paul, for instance, gives us a wonderful example of this. The Book of Philippians is a “prison epistle.” Paul is in jail, and… [Read More…]
Give Thanks in All Circumstances
What a wonderful opportunity this week to devote a time to counting our blessings! The apostle Paul encourages us in I Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” According to Dr. Robert Emmons, a professor of psychology at UC Davis and considered to be… [Read More…]
A Little Family Update
As you can imagine, I receive a lot of inquiries about our family and how things are going. I could never adequately express to you how much that means to me. Your prayers for our family are deeply appreciated, more than you will ever know. So, here we go: My mother, Rita Barnes, is doing… [Read More…]
Please Don’t Skip the Gratitude
During the summer and fall, Jonathon and I have been taking a brisk 4-mile walk through Groveport on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 6:00. Groveport is beautiful at that time of the day. (My personal bias is that Groveport is beautiful any time of the day.) As summer turned to fall, I noticed Halloween lights… [Read More…]
5 Prayers for America
You will never find a better voice on the subject of prayer than Dave Butts of Harvest Prayer Ministries. I have learned more about prayer from Dave and his wife, Kim, than from any other source. Please consider today his “5 Prayers for America” at this critical time in our history. – Paul 1. Protection… [Read More…]
Welcome to the New Normal
Diane and I have a wonderful neighbor who is active in another area church. He and his wife are great people and we sometimes compare notes and always share prayer requests. He is fond of saying that one of the expressions he has come to greatly dislike in the COVID era is, “the new normal.”… [Read More…]
Specific Prayers for Election
We are now very close to election day. Most of us have been praying, fervently, daily, as we head to this critical time in the life of our nation. Each week I receive a blog from J. Lee Grady entitled, “Fire in My Bones.” His insights have often been very helpful to me. In this… [Read More…]
What Do You Delight In?
You may be aware that I have been Diane Barnes’ husband for over four decades. I feel very blessed that I love having conversation with her, still love having those conversations, and that communication flows pretty freely between us. Much of the credit for that goes to Diane. I have a huge reservoir of gratitude… [Read More…]
Deciding How to Vote
How do you make decisions about voting? Prayerful research is a good place to start. For me, there are issues that I care deeply about. Those issues have to do with the moral fiber of our country and also who I think will do the most good for people. Years ago, a presidential candidate had… [Read More…]