It’s not odd, it’s God!
My friend Michael has a favorite saying for when God does something inexplicable in answer to prayer: It’s not odd, it’s God. For some months, Michael and a few others of... »
Keith Phillips
Successful relationships
A stray dog moved into the Smiths’ neighborhood the same day the Joneses moved in next door, and the dog immediately began to wreak havoc, scrounging in trash cans and te... »
Meeting My Best Friend
I was 21 when I read the Bible for the first time. Someone had suggested I read the Gospel of John first, but I knew so little about the Bible at the time that I didn’t u... »
Lasting change
The New Year is more than just a marking of time—or at least it can be. Many people see it as an opportunity to make a new start in some area of their lives. Perhaps it’s... »
The best gift
Can you imagine being given a Christmas gift and not opening it for 20 years? Well, that’s exactly what I did. Year after year I unwrapped all of my other gifts and enjoy... »
The road to happiness
When asked what it means to praise God, my then-four-year-old grandson Logan explained, “It’s when we tell God, ‘Good job!’” I chuckled when I heard that, but it got me t... »
Overcoming fears
Like life itself, the Bible is full of triumphs that could just as easily have ended in disaster. If the heroes in those stories had turned and run the other way, who cou... »
My friend’s secret
Some say that happiness is what we make it. The more time I spend with a certain friend, the more I’m convinced that’s true. Several years ago, he was a successful busine... »
The ties that bind
When two of my grown children recently had their own first babies, it confirmed something I’d known for years: Parenthood brings out the best in people. New parents feel... »
Growing together
The greatest discovery that any of us can make in life is that we can have a close personal relationship with our heavenly Father through His Son, Jesus. That relationshi... »
Biodegradable?—or upgradable?
Death is part of the life cycle, not the end of life. This is evident throughout nature, but perhaps nowhere more clearly than in the example that Jesus gave His disciple... »
Rebuilding
The evening of December 9, 1914, an explosion set fire to a large scientific laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey. At least ten buildings were destroyed, along with year... »