If you have seen the movie, Amazing Grace, you may know William Wilberforce as the man that abolished slave trade in Great Britain in 1807. In his book, “Seven Men and the Secret of their Greatness”, Eric Metaxas quotes Wilberforce writing that “God Almighty has set before me two Great Objects: the suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners.” Metaxas goes on to write that the terrible evil of the slave trade was only one – albeit the worst – of the social evils running rampant at the time in England. “Reformation of Manners” had to do with the other social evils - Child labor was common with poor children as young as five and six working ten- or twelve-hour days; alcoholism was an epidemic of proportions hard to imagine today; and sexual trafficking of woman had fully 25 percent of all single women in London working as prostitutes at an average age of sixteen. Wilberforce knew these Objects were set before him by God and it would be God working through him and many others that would bring them to realization.

Today in America, social evils are alive and well ...read on

She knew something was up. Usually on Sunday mornings she would be the first one up but this morning there were stirrings in the house before she was fully awake. Then the kids and dad burst into her room, tray in hand with pancakes, a bowl of fruit and a fresh cup of coffee! She was getting breakfast in bed! Then they presented a big Mother’s Day card with signs that everyone had contributed to making it. Inside the card were lots of, “You’re the Best Mom!”, “Thanks, Mom” and “Luvya, Mom” along with service coupons for everything from washing her car to washing the dog to getting themselves ready for church. It was a special Mother’s Day for sure!

Don’t panic dads, you have another week. I thought you might appreciate a heads up with some tips from my bride. read on...

Dad moved his family five times in her first nine years of life. His daughter had attended four different schools by the time she entered the fourth grade and he was still traveling about 75% of the time. He had not made one parent-teacher conference, not one school activity and even missed her stage debut when she got the lead in her second grade production – 468 marbles lost.

On their last move, a friend shared a story ...read on

It was quite a wedding – a beautiful bride and nervous groom. I wondered if they really understood the love they were committing to “until death do they part”. In his book, “The Five Love Languages” Gary Chapman says the “tingly” love phase in marriage - when neither can do any wrong in the other’s eyes, may last 2 weeks to 2 years. Then couples must learn to love as husband and wife – a man is to love his wife as Christ loves the Church; and a woman is to respect her husband (Eph.5:33).

Then they must learn to love as parents. What a fabulous moment it is when ...read on

Mountain stream, pure bottled water is the advertisement. What are the benefits? In areas where the water supply has been contaminated, bottled water can certainly be a life source. And for emergency preparedness, a supply of bottled water serves a very practical purpose. But the day to day consumption of bottled water has almost become an obsession for pure water. The idea of drinking water out of a faucet, or heaven forbid out of a water hose, is not acceptable for many.

This obsession with purity does not extend to various media flowing into the home. read on ...

In the movie City Slickers, Curly resolutely holds up one finger and answers, “One thing” when Mitch asks him about the secret to life. “What’s the ‘one thing’?” he pleas. Curly says, “You have to figure that out.” In “The Power of Habit”, Charles Duhigg documents how when a person will focus on changing one habit, the impact on other areas can be phenomenal. One young lady in the study focused on her smoking habit. Her conviction that she had to give up smoking touched off a series of changes that would ultimately radiate out to every part of her life. She replaced smoking with jogging, and that, in turn, changed how she ate, worked, slept, saved money, scheduled her workdays, planned for the future and so on. She had found the ‘one thing’ that got her life back on track.

A while back a dad was struggling with relationships in the home, stress at work and general frustration with where he was in life. He was challenged to ...read on

In his study, Raising Kingdom Kids, Pastor Tony Evans starts with an example of how on a trip to Disney World they lost their youngest son. The boy had gotten distracted by a particular attraction, by all the bright colors and entertainment. Likewise, the parents had gotten distracted by the crowd and other happenings. They turned around and their young son was nowhere to be found. Steps were retraced, security was alerted ...read on

It was an unusual morning. Dad was going into work a bit later than normal and was eating breakfast as the kids were heading out the door to school. He took exception to what his daughter was wearing and said, “Young lady, you are not going to school looking like that!” She burst into tears. Her brother stepped in and said, “Her clothes are really pretty modest for today and I only have ten minutes to get us to school!” More words were exchanged and Mom calmly said, “This is not the time.” Dad backed off.

After the kids left, Dad offered the toughest words for man to say, “I am sorry. I was wrong. Will you ...read on

The world is saying that truth is relative. Dad’s primary role is to keep Truth relative.  

In his book, “Case for Christ” Lee Strobel’s investigation into the facts surrounding Christ provides answers to key questions around the validity of the Bible as he shares information gleaned from scholars. One thing that resonates with me in his research is the popular thought that Jesus was just another prophet that happened to fulfill some prophecies ...read on

What was up with the buzz around that blue and black dress last week? My bride saw it as white and gold! We did not get into an argument or anything but she clearly thought I was nuts. Of course I said, “Yes dear” (Marriage 101). My thought was, “How can there be confusion around this? It is blue and black!” The lively discussion, raging debate in some circles, around “the dress” may reflect on the way we get locked into different points of view in life.

Some research provided the clarity needed. It seems ...read on