Just the word hospitality sounds warm, fuzzy and inviting! Hospitality says, “Welcome!” If you’re like me, you have good intentions! You want to do right; you want to be a blessing, and you want to encourage others. Well, good intentions get us nowhere. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

A few things in life are absolutely tragic. Some things are mysteriously strange. Many, however, are just plain funny. There isn’t a day that passes in which I fail to see, hear, or read something that makes me smile. And because laughter is such effective therapy, I’m grateful that God dispenses this divine medication so frequently.

Growing up in the average Australian household means a life void of religion, God, or faith. By the time Robert Bakss of Sydney, Australia, was eight years old, his parents had divorced, and he found himself in not one, but two of these average Aussie households. “I went through a bit of an ordeal then,” Robert recalls, “I was going back and forth between two homes, a dysfunctional sort of home life.”

Do you ever feel inadequate for the demands of the day? I do—every day! The longer I serve the Lord, the more I recognize my need for His power. Also, the longer I serve Him, the more I recognize my need to trust His power.

Neither I nor any other human being is the source of your liberty. I cannot extend liberty to you, and I cannot determine whether or not you have a clear conscience. We have liberty in Christ.

As a pastor who too often counsels people affected by the dark side of the Internet, I am very aware of the dangers posed online. Wandering hearts, inconsistent identities, even child predators—all of these find themselves very much at home online. (Of course, they find themselves at home offline too, but the internet does provide easy access for amplification of these sins.)

Christian discipleship is a vital subject in the New Testament, and the book of Luke is a fine source of information about it. In chapter 9, the call to discipleship is given and explained in verses 23 and 24 (as it is also in Matthew 16:24–25 and Mark 8:34–35), but then, beginning in verse 37, several serious problems that true disciples of Jesus Christ have are discussed.

Caleb was one of the two spies who believed God would give the promised land to the nation of Israel if they would just believe Him. It was said of Caleb that he followed God fully.

The number one killer in the Western World over the last two decades has been heart disease. Many of us have been touched in one way or another by a friend, family member, or colleague who has suffered with the symptoms of heart disease. The longer I work with people in ministry every day, the more I am convinced that the body of Christ is suffering greatly with heart disease. This disease is more dangerous than our physical hearts being affected, for this disease affects every part of our lives as believers.

I don’t remember that I thought too much about the word legacy—not in a personal sense, anyway—until my first grandchild was born. As parents, we’re so involved in the daily aspects of guiding our children, and we’re so committed to being there for them every step of the way, that we don’t think as much in terms of what legacy we leave for them after we are gone.