Our Downward Spiral of Addiction
Cynthia Heimel lived in New York in the 1970s and she knew actors and artists before their fame—while they were still bussing tables and driving cabs—but she also knew them after their fame. She wrote...
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Christianity: Will-Power or Desire-Power?
I know a man, a really good man, whose life is filled with drudgery. He dutifully cares for his wife and family; he dutifully pours out his life in service; and he dutifully attends to work. He resists...
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Imagination, Intimacy, and Hearing God
I’m discovering that meditation is one of the most powerful ways to hear God. No, “powerful” isn’t a strong enough word. Meditation may be the most profound, deep, life-changing, heart-enriching way to...
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I Wonder If We’re All Spiritually Insane
A few weeks ago I met a twenty-eight-year-old woman who told me of a struggle. Growing up, she longed for a good husband, a nice family, and a moderate house. Shortly after college, she married a...
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Is Modern Worship Sort of Like A Cocaine Rush?
© United Methodist News Service I once met with a man—let’s call him Adam—who described himself as a, “recovering charismatic.” His mother fanatically—maybe frenetically—flitted from one worship...
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Where Personality Tests and Character Collide
Years ago I had two friends with almost opposite personalities and with almost identical approaches to life. John (not his real name) was direct, and I mean really direct. You always knew his opinion....
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What Do We Have That Sabotages Relationships?
Years ago I witnessed a curious interaction between a client’s president and his secretary. I arrived at their office mid-morning and found the secretary crying in the parking lot, crying because of a...
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Might Modern Worship Be Sort of Like A Cocaine Rush?
I once met with a man—let’s call him Nathan—who described himself as a, “recovering charismatic.” He was open to it; but his experience of modern worship gave him pause. As he grew up, his mother...
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Let’s Become Emotional Christians
I woke up last week to the blahs, like Marie Antoinette’s claim, “Nothing tastes.” This happens to me when I’m tired, and ten restless nights had drained me. I felt exhausted. And melancholy. I wasn’t...
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Spiritual Insanity
A couple years ago I met with a twenty-eight-year-old woman who told me of a struggle she faced. She was dissatisfied. Growing up, she had sensible desires for her life: a reasonable husband, a nice...
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Overcoming Chronic Sins
My twelve year old self had a violent temper. My fuse was short, and my blasts of anger detonated at insults as unexpectedly as bursts of laughter explode at well-timed jokes. Without the mutually...
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Celebrity Christians
We live in an age of celebrity Christians. If it’s not the mega church pastors, it’s the best-selling authors or the Christian rock stars. While we may not worship them (at least not that we admit), we...
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I’m Scared of God
The rising bubble of my New Year enthusiasm was burst last week when I read a prayer in the Imitation of Christ. It terrified me. Does it scare you too? (Misery loves company.) Purely as a scientific...
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What Is The Essence of Worship?
Several years ago, I joined a local business organization. Their stated intention was to help business people do their job better; a kind of coaching through semi-monthly seminars. At the opening and...
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The Inner Captivity of We Who Are Free
. . . and what we can do about it We’ve been remade through a re-birth; we’ve become new creations and given new hearts; and the walls that imprisoned us have been bulldozed. And yet . . . we still...
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The Starving Lion
A business owner I barely knew once phoned to see if we could meet. He was an aggressive entrepreneur, a roaring lion among his peers. Yet on the phone, he seemed different, hesitant, a bit humbler,...
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Conquering Chronic Sins
My twelve-year-old self had a violent temper. My fuse was short, and my bursts of anger detonated at perceived-insults as unexpectedly as bursts of laughter explode at well-timed jokes. Without the...
View ArticleScars, Glory, Addictions, and Satisfaction
Something inside us generates a deep longing for significance and substance. Yet almost every one of us feels ephemeral, we sense fleetingness, as though we are one more wave on the beach. So we...
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Our Downward Spiral of Addiction
Cynthia Hymel lived in New York in the 1970s and she knew actors and artists before their fame—while they were still bussing tables and driving cabs—but she also knew them after their fame. She wrote...
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Why Can’t We Forgive Ourselves?
I know a man convicted of a violent crime against someone he loves. He acted in a momentary rage. He had never been violent before. It shocked him. Now he’s in prison. But the iron bars are not his...
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