I thought the Seattle Times did a pretty good April 6 piece on how local groups are ministering to mudslide survivors after the tragic Oso mudslide on March 22.I especially liked this part of the story:The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, which was formed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, deployedContinue reading "Ministering to the mudslide survivors in Oso, Washington"

Yesterday I preached on "Dying that we might live."John 12:24New International Version (NIV)24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.These words of Jesus bring us face to face with a great paradox ofContinue reading "Dying that we might live"

 God's plan:31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly.  Mark 8:31-32a  Man's point of view: And Peter took him aside and beganContinue reading "Lent viewed from God’s plan & man’s plan"

Sad to say, I was a slow learner the first 20+ years of my ministry.  I loved to have answers for people, such as for a person who might have asked me about having daily devotions, for example.Here's the old Don with a quick answer:  "What you need to do is spend 10 minutes readingContinue reading "Ssshhh… Your heart is trying to speak to you"

Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl said: “When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.” Who are the happiest people you have ever met?  For me, it's those who live with a humble sense of gratitude in the midst of finding their lives difficult and yet beautiful and good. Continue reading "Practice gratitude during Lent"

Last week while I was in Charleston, South Carolina, for a few days I was rather amazed and mesmerized at the number of very old churches in Charleston, some of them a few hundred years old and still going.  That got me thinking about what is the element that makes a church a place peopleContinue reading "Love is central in all thriving churches"

Isaiah 53:5-7New International Version (NIV)5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,    he was crushed for our iniquities;the punishment that brought us peace was on him,    and by his wounds we are healed.6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,    each of us has turned to our own way;and the Lord has laid on him    the iniquity of us all.7 He wasContinue reading "Were you there when they crucified the Lord?"

Of Course Rick Warren is absolutely right.  But in fact, we are even called to discipline and curtail even what we think.  That's what Paul said:Philippians 4:8New International Version (NIV)8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent orContinue reading "No, don’t believe everything you think. But, then, don’t think everything either!"