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Hey Family! VBS starts on Monday – the greatest week at Valley Church all year. I saw Sonja Tillman in the classroom across the hall from my office working on T-shirts earlier today. When she left I sneaked in and held up one to my chest. Ah, to be a kid again! I loved VBS…
November 7th, 1995 ended the longest three days of our lives. We had been happily expecting our first baby to arrive sometime around the end of October. But she had other plans and didn’t even begin to arrive until almost a week later. After 30 hours of labor she was finally in our arms, healthy…
Do you have songs that remind you of certain settings? For Valorie and me, we try to pick an album for special occasions, like anniversary trips, that will remind us of those moments every time we hear one of those songs. When our kids were young, Saturday mornings were always set aside for cleaning house.…
Dearly Beloved, Is there marriage in heaven? This was the Lord Jesus’ reply in response to a question concerning a woman who had been married multiple times in her life — whom would she be married to in heaven? “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like…
Some time ago my father-in-law Jack Popjes challenged me to make a list of the things I wanted in life. The idea is to put down initial thoughts that might include things like possessions or accolades and allow the Lord to refine those desires over time. (You can read the original post on his website…
Dear Friends, Who are you? Ok, I am quite convinced that you have not forgotten your name but “who are you really” – your identity? This question “who are you” is in our text this Sunday as we continue in our series, “Believe.” The priests and Levites from Jerusalem were sent to inquire about John…
When I was a new Christian someone shoved a copy of “Knowing God” into my hands. I had been going to church my whole life, but I freely confess I didn’t know much about God, let alone know Him personally. Oh, I knew He was loving and forgiving, after all, as one German poet said,…
Hey Family, Like you, I’m feeling low about this latest school shooting. More on that below. But first, something cheerful. I walked out of the restroom in building three last week and got a delicious surprise. My buddy Nathan was standing there with a big box of donuts, just waiting for me to take my…
I love a good novel. You know, one of those “page turners” where each chapter ends with the hero in some desperate situation and you HAVE to keep reading to find out what happens next. It’s even better if there is some dastardly deed that remains unpunished and, of course, if there is some amorous…
Back in the early 1990’s, a frozen pizza company was trying to figure out an advertising campaign to bring attention to their product. They designed a series of humorous commercials where an individual was about to lose his life in some melodramatic fashion – in front of a firing squad, by being hanged, about to…