Wowsers… You never can tell how you’re going to get a nudge, where it’ll come from, or what ways He manifests it. It also can appear to be a bit vague and often unprovable, but I truly believe that God puts things before us to ponder if and when we pay Him attention. A friend […]

As a Christian, I proclaim myself that first.  Sure, I’m an American, and Iowan, a conservative in most modes of thought, and certainly and husband and father.  But, the Almighty is my first focus and the rest comes second.  This choice informs all my others.  Which is to say, I’m easily predictable in this way, […]

In fact, that was the central focus of my most recent Sunday School class. I offered a lesson surrounding Satan, how he gets a toe in the door, and sin crescendos from there. I then offered the antidote to sin, which begins with prayer, and plenty of it. Yet, here I am. Frustrated to my […]

I left home to head to college as an 18yr old kid who knew everything. I ended up settling nearly 3 hours from my home, which was also the same community my to-be wife came from. College was busy, then work was busy, career building and dates with my then-girlfriend took priority. I didn’t get […]

…This blog began. The first post is still a fun story I share with people all the time. We’d been looking for a great church. Not a good one, but a great one. Some friends suggested sending my little daughter to VBS at, Cornerstone Bible Fellowship, and we agreed it would be good for her. […]

For those of you who are parents, you’ll read the title and harken back to the time when your children were small and talkative. You’ll remember when you were their whole world. You can probably reminisce in the memory of hearing your own children say those words over and over to you. It truly is […]

It looks bad and frankly is probably worse than you’ll realize. Yes, I have strongly held political positions. But, I make every effort to park that and keep a biblical response to just about anything when I can. My ego, pride, and emotions can get in front of my better judgments, but I continually want […]

As the stories emerge from a media that can’t be trusted, it is hard to deny the images we’re seeing coming out of Afghanistan.  We’re going to hear plenty of blame, copious amounts of finger-pointing, and calls for vacating various offices and positions.  I’ve got news for you all.  You can’t legitimately lay things like […]

…Is pretty far from what we had in mind. In fact, it would be hard for me to imagine our plans and His align very often. We get what we need, not what we want. Think about that.

I’ve come to really embrace Toyota vehicles in the last few years. We don’t need to get into the “Big 3” debate. I simply took a step back and looked at the long-term value and performance, with Toyota edging out the other three. Then I factored in the truth – Toyota doesn’t play in politics, […]

As a first time teacher in Church, I have met with some level of success. Why, you ask? I am motivated and seek to be prepared. As a first time teacher in Church, I have also met with some level of failure. Why, you ask? I wasn’t motivated enough and I hadn’t sought to be […]

I’ve made it to the end of my 40-day devotional and have learned a lot. I’ve refreshed my mind of many things I’d overlooked, marginalized, or otherwise forgotten. I’ve enjoyed a sense of gladness over my retrospect of marriage. I’ve also been deeply humbled and convicted in my realization of absence and ignorance in my […]

I’ll hit you straight up with it today. Some of this venture hasn’t gone as well as I’d hoped. There are also parts that have been truly rewarding. I should have embraced the idea early on that there would, as always, be surprises along the road to marital bliss. …And not always in the form […]

I’ve eclipsed the halfway point of this 40-day journey. I find myself with an odd dichotomy that seems to surround this devotional. On one hand, I’ve successfully managed to deploy this series of dares without my wife figuring out what I’m doing. It was meant to be done for our mutual benefit, rather than any […]

Well, here I am, with a pretty good start through this devotional and improvement series, when lo and behold, I have a conversation that I need to share with you. I was really enthused to do this with my church family, my brothers specifically because no matter what I tried I couldn’t get any takers […]

As you can imagine, I, as expected, have learned and relearned things in the process of applying The Dove Lair again. As I mentioned earlier, I have undergone this devotional and self-examination in years prior. I have retained some of that which I came to new light with this retrospective inspection. It also has become […]

I’m going to use some rudimentary code to avoid spilling all the beans. Heck, we might even use code names. That’d be fun. It isn’t considered lying when you admit upfront you’re using code names, right? “Y’all hear that? We’re using code names!” Let’s get this party started. The first Saturday of each month is […]

I can too, so I’m not telling. Besides, you’ll figure it out pretty soon anyway… Relax, there’s no reason blogging can’t be fun. Be salt and light my friends… I beg you.

Hashtag You Only Live Once How many of your friends say this? How popular has it become to utter this phrase? How frequently do you see this hashtag on social media? #yolo is quite prominent, isn’t it? I don’t have a fundamental problem with the energy behind those people we see using this hashtag. I […]

You should. My blog from the day before regarding a fantastic learning technique was a small part of a larger story. It might benefit others for me to share this with you all. I mentioned that I hadn’t taught anything Biblical in a formal setting prior to this year’s Adult Sunday School at Cornerstone Bible […]

I’ve been remiss on my blogging for the recent few months. I believe I have an excuse you’ll find acceptable, however… I’ve been offering the Adult Sunday School at our church. Late last summer our Pastor asked the congregation to remain behind after Service if we were interested in learning more about volunteering with Sunday […]

I was having a conversation with a longtime friend the day after the Trump protests in DC. He’s an atheist, very liberal, and isn’t high on pesky things like the 1st or 2nd amendment. I wouldn’t say he’s my antithesis, but close. He’s also been an extremely loving and kind friend to me for 25 […]

I’ve made it no secret that I have thoroughly enjoyed Ravi Zacharias over many years. I was introduced to him by my Pastor, Steve. Not in a literal sense of course. There was no handshake, but Steve told me one day that I might really like listening to his Apologetics works. I checked him out […]

I spent a few minutes tonight pouring over some numbers.  If you want to have some fun and read a few statistics, you need to carefully accept them in context…  But go take a look at the COVID numbers for places like the USA with a pop of 331M folks.  Then compare things like the pop […]

My little boy turned 7 this week. He’s such a fun-loving and cute kid that I can sometimes forget his ability to be a holy terror. Sometimes. HA! But, as you know, parents are among the few that see the best and worst their children have to offer. Still, my boy appears to have a […]

I, for one, am getting just about sick to my stomach over what I hear leaking from the mouths of my fellow Christians. If I didn’t relegate my umbrage to a singular focus, I’m not sure I could stop after having begun typing this morning. Thus, I’ll corral my ire to a specific and narrow […]

Most people don’t know what “antinomianism” means or how to define it. With no small irony, we appear to be eyeball deep within it at every directional glance. There are a few variations of the definition of antinomianism, but this is thorough and illustrates well what I would like for you to grasp: Antinomianism (Ancient Greek: […]

Honestly, I’d never heard of the term “derecho” in my life. Derecho /dāˈrāˌCHō/ is defined as a line of intense, widespread, and fast-moving windstorms and sometimes thunderstorms that moves across a great distance and is characterized by damaging winds. As a Midwesterner, I’ve never gotten too concerned about straight line winds. The winds that start […]

…And blurting out, “We didn’t know what we didn’t know,” is no longer an example of acceptable tautology. Propaganda works.  We typically don’t refer to indoctrination that way any longer.  Today the term “Virtue Signaling” is the path forward.  Window dressing aside, propaganda is as virtue signaling does.  Ask any former communist or student of […]

Every word you will ever utter in your time means something. Words, whether audibly spoken, chiseled on a rock, or gestured with sign language means something. All of them. So when we offer the mantra, “Black Lives Matter” there is meaning to those words. “Black Lives Matter” – I know what each individual word means, […]

Have you ever heard the term “Decoration Day” by someone in your family or among your friends?  We used to refer to Memorial Day as “Decoration Day” for specific reasons.  Sure, we decorate the graves of others over this weekend specifically, but the core of this federal holiday is slowly becoming lost I fear and […]

Fill in the blank. If you’ve heard this uttered once, you’ve heard it a million times. Yesterday was Mother’s Day, and I’m sure the internet was full of sentiment such as this. I’m not heartless. I too would love to visit with my grand folks again. Oh, the things we could talk about now that […]

Yes, I’m on a bit of a rant. No, I don’t make this is a habit. I’ve been silent in terms of my Christian blog throughout the COVID19 scare. I understand virology, herd immunization, and the topics that surround a virus outbreak such as this. I also understand just how damaging a poor grasp of […]

I got up yesterday, the same as any other day, and did the things I always do. I wake up extra early. I do this, not for pleasure or preference mind you, but because I simply don’t sleep much. Any sleep I grab past 4 is a gift. When you have a wife, especially one […]

I question how well I am able to convey the happy dance without really looking silly. But… I don’t care. I am over the moon with excitement! Our church lost a rock-solid pastor a year ago. Choosing a new leader for our church family wasn’t easy. Frankly, it put us all well outside our comfort […]

Yeah, I wrote that. I meant it too. I’m thinking through some serious considerations at the moment. I’ve also stumbled across a few elements other parents are facing that have me pontificating how I would handle those situations myself. Some are darned heavy lifts to boot. In my own case, I have a daughter that […]

Provocative title, right? You’d think a “Christian” blog wouldn’t contain such harsh ideas or thought, right? Wrong. Sometimes you need a smack in the face. I do. We have an entire culture swirling around the toilet bowl as if somebody hit the big “flush” handle. There are few limits for what a prog will say […]

I’d rather listen to classical music or something in the alternative/prog metal or art rock than most anything else. I have quite a bit of folk music edging into my daily listening, but I default pretty quickly to a handful of bands that I really love. They include in no particular order: Portal, Tool, Deftones, […]

Somewhere I read a line about “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the Earth.” You may have run across that in your travels. I can’t remember for sure where I read it. #rollingeyes 😉 When I read that in Matthew 5, and each time I remember hearing it, I found myself not quite […]

I’ve learned much more than I bargained for with you over these many years. People often linger and lament over the changes they’d make if they’d only known. I don’t think that describes me. Not in this circumstance. For if I made a change in the past, a different outcome would be my reality. And […]

Pity… I can’t seem to make a scratch in the armor of bad things that surround us. I can’t stop the pain, hurt, and sorrow we all experience. I’m unable to curb the behaviors too many of us have that lead to the harm of others. Yet, within us all are responses to each thing […]

As I type this, I’m dizzy with thought. Whirling through my mind are many questions, and few answers. “Have I not been this selfish? When have I done this to others? Why can’t I recall my own debased patheticism?” I wonder if the human psyche manages to cloud our worst behavior in an effort to […]

A number of years ago, I had a gentleman do the proverbial “pop in” to my shop. I own my business and work strictly by appointment. Typically I approach the “pop in” with disdain, as I’m interrupted from things that require concentration and focus. For some reason I wasn’t too upset when Bob showed up. […]

Can you be easily identified as a Christian by your fellow congregational members in the pew on Sunday morning? Most would answer yes to that question. The idea that there are some who might respond with a “no” is a topic for another day. But yeah, your fellow parishioners look on you most likely as […]

You ever said that out loud? What about under your breath? Better yet, have you ever thought it about a friend? I have been uttering things like that, both silently and audibly quite often lately. It seems like I’ve got a gaggle of pals that can’t enjoy anything but strife, chaos, and general discord. It’s […]

I heard that phrase uttered the other day and scoffed at it under my breath. I neither took it to heart nor did I truly think about the implications of what a short proclamation such as that actually meant. The person saying it wouldn’t be on my short-list to hand out sage advice to the […]

Typically I view myself as a ‘decent’ dad. I’m no fool. I’m also not ignorant. When I hear people give me accolades as a ‘good dad’ I enjoy hearing it – that’s the self-absorbed ego-driven portion of me. …But I only bask in the faux glow of envy for a second or two. It isn’t […]