I leaned against the reservoir beside our house, elbows resting on the aged cement wall, and stared at the water. Bugs skittered across the surface, barely making a dent. I thought I couldn’t see the bottom of the reservoir, but then I caught sight of the fish swimming below and my eyes adjusted to the depth. A moment later wind rippled the surface and blew all the bugs away. And below, the fish swam serenely, unperturbed by the wind blowing on the surface. It’s time to go deep with God. My Christian experience needs to be…
These days there is so much porn online it’s almost easier for a child to stumble across it than to search for it on purpose. If your child has any access to technology – at home, at school, a friend – they are going to see porn. Not if. When. It has a way of finding kids, and often, after an accidental encounter, they begin looking for it intentionally. That is the nature of porn. Our job as parents is to try and delay the exposure as long as possible and prepare our kids for it. Finding out that your child…
Talking about pornography is unpleasant, but we have to because it’s everywhere. Since the Coronavirus hit the world with its lockdown regulations, porn sites have been generous and offered free porn. Naturally, they’ve reported an upsurge in traffic. People are home and feeling bored, frustrated, anxious, or lonely, and porn offers “relief”. Porn sites would have you believe that what they offer is – if not good for you – not bad. How bad is porn? What’s the big deal about it? The justifications for it are many, and today we’re looking at common lies people believe about…
Perhaps the biggest piece of baggage a person brings into marriage is their bundle of expectations. Each person has an idea of what their home life, their parenting, their sex life, and their responsibilities should be like. Problems develop when couples assume the other person shares their expectations: A husband may expect his wife to balance a home and career like his mother did. A wife may expect her husband to fix things around the house. When expectations are unclear, unhealthy, unspoken, or unmet, both spouses can feel neglected, frustrated, or just plain angry. And often, couples don’t even…
Why You Should Begin Prayer with Praise (and 5 things you can always praise God for, no matter what)
It’s a human tendency to praise God when life is good and to complain when it’s not. It’s easy to give thanks and tell others how good God is when He’s answering our prayers and pouring out the blessings, but the moment we experience difficulty or disappointment the praise dries up. What if we could turn that around and praise God all the time – even when life stinks? A good place to begin is with prayer. Jesus set the example when He taught His disciples how to pray. He begins by praising His Father, saying…
It’s a crazy time we’re living in, isn’t it? Life may never be the same after this whole virus thing dies down. Here in South Africa, we’re all going to be stuck at home for the next three weeks. Some of you may be relishing the thought, others may be freaking out at the idea of forced isolation. How you cope with this time depends largely on your attitude. Will you allow the anxiety and frustration to get to you, or do you have a plan for this time of forced solitude? To help…
Richard and I have very different ways of solving problems. My problem-solving techniques go something like this: leave it and see what happens, it may go away on its own. Richard’s way of dealing with problems is: tackle it head-on and work at it until it’s fixed. Both of these have pros and cons. Sometimes my way works, sometimes his way does. However, when it comes to serious issues, like disease or marriage troubles, it’s better to use the “tackle it head-on and get it fixed no matter what” approach. The difference between disease…
Lately, I’ve taken a break from life, only doing the bare essentials. Less time on social media, more time outside, or lying on the couch thinking. Why have I done this? To think about what’s going on deep inside of me. To audit my soul. As I’ve been auditing my soul – taking stock, seeing what’s really going on inside of me – I’ve realised that for a lot of my life I’ve edited my soul – cut out pieces of it that are important because life delivered the message that they don’t matter…
Is your quiet time with God humdrum? Does your mind wander while you’re trying to pray and read your Bible? Do you struggle with knowing what to read? Are you tired of the bland and boring and wonder why you even bother to have quiet time at all? Maybe you don’t want to give up, but just need some fresh ideas to inject life into your quiet time and take it from stale to stimulating. This post is going to show you how to take the dull out of devotions and give them a jumpstart. But first, What…