Posts Categorized: Mikes Blog

Isaiah warned of a people who would call evil good and good evil, turn light into darkness and darkness into light, excuse the guilty, punish the innocent, and reject the law of the Lord. He said sorrow would follow—not as a threat, but as the natural result of living against truth. That warning now hangs… Read more »

The first word matters most—United. It comes first because everything else depends on it. America was never built on perfect agreement, but on a shared decision to remain one people even while disagreeing. Unity was the foundation. Without it, nothing else stands. America is dividing, not because we disagree, but because we have forgotten how… Read more »

A while back, a good friend of mine died from cancer. A few days before his death, I visited him in the hospital, where he shared a dream with me—one that has stayed with me and continues to shape how I understand fear and faith. In his dream, he saw Jesus in the Garden of… Read more »

Many people know about Jesus. They have heard His name, listened to sermons, and learned stories from the Bible. They may believe He lived, taught, and died on the cross. They may even agree that everything they hear about Him is true. But knowing about Jesus is not the same as knowing Him. Knowing about… Read more »

I had a conversation with a young woman I have known her entire life. Her view of what is happening in America is very different from mine. I did not enter the conversation trying to make a statement or provoke a reaction. I was simply talking, believing that two people could disagree and still treat… Read more »

One evening I found myself reading words written nearly two hundred and fifty years ago, yet they felt as if they were speaking directly into our time. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these… Read more »

Over the past week, and really over the past year, as we have listened to the news and talked with people, one thing has become clear: emotion is driving much of our national conversation. Anger, fear, and outrage dominate what we hear. Reactions are immediate and intense. Feelings are loud. That leads to a basic… Read more »

Last night Carol and I went to see the movie Song Sung Blue. It was a good movie, but what stayed with me was not the music or the scenes. It was the quiet reminder that we often meet people without any real understanding of what they have lived through. We see who they are… Read more »

This last week I had a conversation with someone who grew up under my leadership and the leadership of others. That conversation stirred something deep in me and brought back a question that has followed me for years: what happened? Not what happened in the world or in the news, but what happened to people… Read more »

In 2 Kings 17, Scripture says something shocking: they became worthless. This does not mean God stopped loving His people. God’s love did not change. What changed was their usefulness to Him. Worthless here means no longer useful for the purpose God created them for. God chose Israel to reflect Him, obey Him, and show… Read more »