I really, really wanted to go to Patmos. I mean, really wanted to go there. If you know anything about the island, you’ll understand why. This was the place where John the Apostle received the vision that became the Book of Revelation. This was where one of Jesus' closest friends encountered the risen Christ in an experience that shaped Christianity forever. So when Lora and I planned our 30th anniversary trip to the Adriatic Sea, Patmos was at the top of my list. I built up

We're moving too fast. I mean it. We're so busy being busy that we're missing the very things that make life worth living. Those moments that stop you in your tracks and make you catch your breath, the ones that remind you that you're alive and that God is good. We're blowing right past them because we can't put our phones down long enough to notice. There's a reason we're supposed to take a day of rest. It's not just some arbitrary religious rule. It's because when you're ru

We all face it eventually. The moment when life doesn't go as planned and circumstances blindside us, when we're forced to confront something we never saw coming. It might be a job loss, a death, a diagnosis, or any number of things that shake the foundation we thought was solid. When tragedy hits, we have a choice in how we respond to it. And that choice, even more than the tragedy itself, is what defines who we become. When tragedy strikes, we typically respond in one of tw

If you've been around long enough, you've encountered temptation, trial, and tragedy in your life. It's no coincidence that the very first chapter of human history includes all three: temptation entered the world, trial followed the yielding to that temptation, and from that moment forward, the human experience has been marked by tragedy. But God used the ultimate tragedy to provide a permanent solution to our trials and temptations. The same pattern that brought destruction