Most of us can forgive small stuff...but what about the big things that cause us great pain?  Ed Thomas was a caring husband, a good dad, and a highly respected man in his community.  After decades of coaching his football team, Ed was awarded the coveted NFL High School Coach of the Year in 2005.  Four years later, a former student walked into the school locker room, pulled out his gun and unloaded seven bullets...

Patience has always been one of my biggest struggles.  Can you relate? If so, here are 3 ways to help you practice patience. First, understand what triggers impatience. Impatience often occurs when we don’t get what we want when we want it. There are a couple of things that can trigger it. We get impatient when circumstances don’t conform to our expectations—long lines at the store, traffic jams, and flight delays...

For some it's gambling…for others it's pornography, overeating, or drinking too much. So, do you try to talk your way out of it? Do you get as close to it as you can without getting burned? Or, do you assume you're strong enough and keep putting yourself in tempting situations? Well, an ancient proverb says we need to flee from temptation. That’s right…physically remove ourselves from it. In other words, one of...

As a Florida native, I’ve done a lot of boating, hunting, and camping over the years and have been in a lot of secluded areas. When you’re out in the middle of nowhere, it’s especially important to have a navigational device that you can rely upon to tell you where you are and where you need to go—north, south, east, or west.  In navigation, it’s important to understand the difference between true north and...

Losing a job. . . marriage problems . . . health issues.  Experiencing hardship in your life is like driving on a dark, winding mountain road.  You can’t see what’s around the next curve.  You’re scared and confused.  But, when the darkness finally turns to light, and the winding road becomes straight, you may look back and see some good in the journey. So, the next time you experience hardship, try to focus on...

My kids have taught me a lot of things… and I can tell you, it’s a very humbling experience.  One thing that they’ve shown me over and over again is my lack of patience.  For example, my impatience with the grocery store cashier during check out, or the waitress at a restaurant, and my impatience driving them to school.  You get the picture!   It’s kind of embarrassing to admit.  When they point out my impatience...

As a boy, his mother soothed him to sleep by chanting rhymes. As he grew older, he started drawing cartoons. Then, he combined those two skills into a book with rhymes and illustrations. That first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was rejected 27 times before being published. Wow! Talk about perseverance; after it was published, he didn’t stop. Over the course of his life, he wrote and...