Soldiers, Athletes, And Farmers

What do soldiers, athletes, and farmers have in common? Discipline. Soldiers go through drills day in and day out.

ODB: Storm Chasers

“Chasing tornadoes,” says Warren Faidley, “is often like a giant game of 3D-chess played out over thousands of square miles.” The photojournalist and storm-chaser adds: “Being in the right place at the right time is a symphony of forecasting and navigation while dodging everything from softball-sized hailstones to dust storms and slow-moving farm equipment.”Faid

Ongoing Repentance

Over the years I’ve often heard of the “Twelve Steps” of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

ODB: Bring What You Have

“Stone Soup,” an old tale with many versions, tells of a starving man who comes to a village, but no one there can spare a crumb of food for him. He puts a stone and water in a pot over a fire. Intrigued, the villagers watch him as he begins to stir his “soup.” Eventually, one brings a couple of potatoes to add to the mix; another has a few carrots. One person adds an onion

Disciplined for Freedom

My dog has been trained to always come back to me the instant I call or whistle. It’s taken a lot of work to get this response.

ODB: Walking with the Spirit

Ten thousand hours. That’s how long author Malcolm Gladwell suggests it takes to become skillful at any craft. Even for the greatest artists and musicians of all time, their tremendous inborn talent wasn’t enough to achieve the level of expertise that they would eventually attain. They needed to immerse themselves in their craft every single day.As strange as it might seem, we

Transformed Lives

A gospel song by Mahalia Jackson expresses that without God, we can’t do anything, and that we must depend on Jesus.

ODB: Slowing Down Time

A lot has changed since the electric clock was invented in the 1840s. We now keep time on smart watches, smart phones, and laptops. The entire pace of life seems faster—with even our “leisurely” walking speeding up. This is especially true in cities and can have a negative effect on health, scholars say. “We’re just moving faster and faster and getting back to people

Confession that Heals

Every Sunday at our church, before we receive communion, we bow our heads and our hearts as we confess our sin.