Dear Friends, Back when our children were young, I remember one night hearing a familiar sound coming from my son's room long after he should have been asleep. I went to his door and noticed an equally familiar blue glow coming from underneath the door. I opened the door to find him playing a video game long after he was supposed to be asleep. I asked him what he was doing, pointing out the fact that it was well past his bedtime. He looked appropriately guilty, and said, “I'm sorry Dad, I just couldn't resist myself.” It's been several years now since that happened, but I think of it often, because it was probably one of the most theologically sound statements I've ever heard from a jun

Dear Friends, It seems to me that one of the hardest things to do in life is not complain. Whether it’s about traffic, the weather, politics, co-workers, neighbors, or just having to go through the day when we would rather be sitting at home on the couch - there just doesn’t seem to be an end to things that we can find to complain about. It’s a reality I was confronted with this morning as I found myself sitting in traffic, mentally complaining about having to sit there when I had so much to do. And once I started complaining, it was hard to stop - as my mind started running through all the things happening in life that I’m not excited about. Fortunately, God interrupted my complaining mi

Dear Friends, Let me begin with an apology for the long absence of the "Plan B" devotionals. The hiatus was completely unintentional, and came about as a result of a series of events - some expected, and some not - that have happened over the past few weeks. The expected events were things like weddings and births - and the unexpected events were things like funerals, hospitalizations, and health problems. But whether the events were expected or not, the result was that the past few weeks have been incredibly busy, and I have not had time to sit down and write about what God’s been doing. The good news is, things seem to have settled down a bit, and we’re finally able to get back to the w