How to recover from regrettable decisions – 1st Samuel 21 & 22, Part 3

Years ago my son and his friend hung a swing in our backyard from a high tree branch. My grandson loves riding that swing. Recently we were swinging, my grandson sitting on my lap.  As we were swinging, we started spinning.  My grandson thought it was fun, and he started laughing.  I love it whenContinue reading “How to recover from regrettable decisions – 1st Samuel 21 & 22, Part 3”

Is your view of life upside-down? – 1st Samuel 17, Part 3

Photo by Trevin Rudy on Unsplash In 2018 I blogged a series titled “Characters” where I featured a number of famous Bible stories. One of those was David & Goliath from 1st Samuel chapter 17. Now in 2024, I am blogging through 1st and 2nd Samuel, and we’ve reached chapter 17. This week, I’m rebloggingContinue reading “Is your view of life upside-down? – 1st Samuel 17, Part 3”

Three practices to overcome fear – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 5

In this series of posts about the story of David and Goliath, we have seen the Israelite army running in fear from the intimidating giant, Goliath. To best understand the question I am going to ask next, I encourage you to go back and read at least the previous post, if not all four, staringContinue reading “Three practices to overcome fear – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 5”

Why this is not an underdog story – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 4

I’ve been saying all along in this series of posts looking at the story of David and Goliath that this is not an underdog story. I didn’t come up with that idea on my own. I’m indebted to the work of Malcolm Gladwell in his book David & Goliath. Gladwell notes that scholars who haveContinue reading “Why this is not an underdog story – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 4”

Is your view of life upside-down? – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 3

Have you ever been in a situation where you were convinced you were right, but ultimately found out you were wrong? It can be shocking when that happens. We tend to go about life trusting our intuition, our viewpoint, and when we are believing something we think is so obvious, only to discover that weContinue reading “Is your view of life upside-down? – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 3”

Distraction from the main thing – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 2

Have you ever had this happen: you’re in the office drafting an email about an rather tricky interpersonal relationship in your company, and you have a flash of brilliance. You’re about to solve the problem. As you’re typing your thoughts, the phone rings. You answer it, and the call lasts for a few minutes. That’sContinue reading “Distraction from the main thing – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 2”

Do you have crippling fear? – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 1

What seemingly impossible situations are you facing?  What is causing you fear?  What keeps you up at night?  What gives you an upset stomach?  Fear is a powerful force that affects so many of us.  Fear of losing our health.  Fear of losing control.  Fear of poverty.  Fear of death. In our Characters series, weContinue reading “Do you have crippling fear? – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 1”

How to be a peacemaker (shocking lessons from an “insane” person!)

All week long, we’ve been looking at 1 Peter 3:8-12 where Peter teaches a very difficult thing to do: when people insult you, ask God to bless them. Is Peter saying you can never defend yourself?  I would submit that Peter would answer, “No. You can defend yourself. But there is a right way andContinue reading “How to be a peacemaker (shocking lessons from an “insane” person!)”