Ch.8. More Peaceful Than Your Disappointments            Peaceful > Your Disappointment  I didn’t know the person who submitted the request. His name was Marcus and he was asking for financial assistance. At our church we get a lot of applications for benevolence support, but this one was unusual. He was asking for help to pay for his headstone and its inscription. I assumed we could probably sa..

Ch.10. More Hopeful Than Your Despair            Hopeful > Your Despair  In 1921 a missionary couple from Sweden named David and Svea Flood went with their two-year-old son to the heart of Africa, to what was then called the Belgian Conco. They met up with another missionary couple and the four of them decided to take the gospel to a  remote area where people had never heard about Jesus.  Unfort..

Ch.9.  More Powerful Than Your Weakness            Powerful > Your Weakness  I recently learned about an artist named Phil Hansen. He’s a huge success. His breakthrough approach to creating art has made him incredibly popular and has inspired millions of people. I became familiar with Hansen’s art by watching his TED talk called “Embrace the Shake.” If you haven’t seen it, I encourage you to pul..

Ch.7. More Reconciling Than Your Resentment               Reconciling Grace > Your Resentment  Elizabeth and Frank Morris’s eighteen-year-old son, Ted, was home from college for Christmas break. He had gotten a job to make a little money. It was late, and Elizabeth was worried because he was supposed to be home from work already. That’s when the phone rang. Elizabeth answered and received the ne..

Ch.6. More Prevailing Than Your Vengeance                  Prevailing > Your Vengeance  If you’re in ministry, some people won’t like you. At all.  Who would’ve guessed you could get in trouble by talking incessantly about someone people were so desperate to get rid of that they nailed him to a cross?  It’s something they don’t tell you in seminary or include on church job descriptions, but it’s..

Ch.5. More Freeing Than Your Bitterness                      Freeing > Your Bitterness  How difficult is it to push a button on the dishwasher? My vote is “not very,” but that isn’t the point. What made the whole thing ironic is that I was in the middle of writing a sermon on “happiness.” Let me explain.  My wife and I were on the beach in Destin, Florida . . . without the kids. A recipe for hap..

Ch.4. More Healing Than Your Wounds           God’s Healing > Your Wounds  My wife is an organized person who enjoys making lists, creating systems, and putting things in their right place.  These are concepts I’m only vaguely familiar with.  She has recently been reading a book called The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. The subtitle is The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. So the ..

Ch.3. More Redemptive Than Your Regrets              = Redemptive Grace > Your regrets =  As I lay there thinking and praying about my sermon, I suddenly heard a crash come from our bathroom. I hopped out of bed and ran in and saw that the full-length mirror that had been hanging on our closet door had fallen off and was in pieces on the floor. When that mirror fell, it exposed something I did t..

Ch.2.  More Beautiful Than Your BrokennessIn 2009, I received the following message on Facebook from a man named Wes who was in his early forties.    .............................. (skip several lines) ..................................   I have known I was adopted all my life. I was raised in a Christian home by two terrific people who could not have     children of their own. I’m now happily m..

Ch.1. More Forgiving Than Your Guilt                            The Ugly Truth  Our ability to appreciate grace is in direct corelation to the degree to which we acknowledge our need for it. The more I recognize the ugliness of my sin, the more I can appreciate the beauty of God’s grace. The Bible holds up a mirror and confronts us with the reality of our sin.    Everyone has sinned; we all fall..