January 13th, 2015 
“Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard.” Ps 66:8
Growing up, my family never went to church, and I mean never—not a single time. I didn’t know the standard hymns, prayers and creeds that others knew. I certainly knew nothing about praise. I do remember praying sometimes, but it was more like “Help Wanted.”
When I became a follow of Jesus Christ at age 21, someone taught …
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December 9th, 2014 
Have you ever memorized a verse, and then years later realized it didn’t mean exactly what you thought it did? Unfortunately that happens all the time, and it can lead to frustration, disappointment with God, and a warped view of God’s plan and purpose.
I am an advocate of memorizing sequential verses in context rather than memorizing scattered verses. Think of it this way, if one of your goals is to get …
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November 4th, 2014 
Memorizing chapters and entire books inevitably leads us to verses we wouldn’t otherwise choose to memorize—lots of them. When we read the Bible we can quickly skim over difficult teachings without coming to grips with their application, but memorizing doesn’t allow us to breeze through the hard parts. An example from one of the books I’ve memorized:
“God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give …
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October 28th, 2014 
Construction near my house sends me on a convoluted detour, meandering around side streets and dodging orange cones. This squanders my time and squeezes my patience. “Why don’t they just hurry up and finish the road?”
I don’t like detours—I want to stay on the main road. Even metaphorical detours frustrate me, especially those of my own making.
Can you hear this hymn playing in the background? “Prone to wander, Lord I feel …
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September 30th, 2014 
Beginners’ questions give me a rush of adrenaline. I’m eager to help anyone avoid some common pitfalls because I had no one to ask when I started memorizing more than 20 years ago. I began with the book of Ephesians, but I don’t recommend it. I’ve seen too many people quit because a lengthy passage got the best of them. The long road ahead overwhelmed them before they’d built up confidence that they …
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