In the middle of teaching today, I smelled cookies.  I inhaled to continue blabbing on and it was there, even stronger. The growing aroma of cookies in the oven … being cooked at that very moment.  Usually, a class of teenagers would comment about any change in the atmosphere or with someone’s complexion or anything really, and yet no one said a thing.

So I interrupted whatever vitally important thing I was saying. “Do you guys smell cookies?”

And without missing his opportunity, the witty mouth of the class responded, “Oh, sorry.  That was me.”

I wish I could have given him extra credit for such a timely and sarcastic response.

 
On Sunday, when we were getting things ready at our church, Ladybug was buzzing around humming one of the songs we had been singing in the car.  It wasn’t long, and she was outright singing it with her 7 year old vibrato and doing little dance moves that are part football player, part ballet dancer.  When [...]

 
In an attempt to run away from the masses of people, Jesus and his disciples jump on a boat.  It’s a slow boat, though.  Slow enough, I suppose for them to get some rest.  But the boat is so slow that the crowds of people walk around the lake to where Jesus is going, and they [...]

Why is the Apostolic Doctrine is best suited to affect our society?
Experience.
Our society wants something experiential, not blind obedience to theology.  They desire something tangible, not something philosophical.  They want feelings to accompany their faith, to see the supernatural in the natural, to experience the unexplainable.  They want to taste what God “supposedly” has to [...]

After the disciples spent a time of traveling and ministering, Jesus offered them the next part of their schooling:  Rest.
Working with people on any level is difficult and rewarding.  Dealing with them on a spiritual level is exhilarating and exhausting at the same time, because you pouring into them who and what you are.  The [...]

Our foster daughter, Ladybug, is one of a kind … or so I thought.  She has been lumbering around for the last week with a mongo purple goose egg on her head that she got when she was sledding down into another kid.  Most of the time, her hair covers the purple knob, but from [...]

 
There are days when you get bad news, and then there are days when you get news that just puts the fear of God in you.  In this passage, King Herod hears about Jesus for the first time.  He discovers that Jesus and his disciples have been going from village to village teaching about the [...]

 
Jesus teaches by involvement.  A few months earlier, these disciples were working regular jobs.  They weren’t theologians.  They were simple, uneducated men.  But they had been with Jesus, had learned a little about the Kingdom. had been given authority over evil spirits, and showed that healing was possible through God.  Jesus thought they were ready [...]

On page 972 of my newest book The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Tuning Out God:  How to Eradicate Conviction and Live a Happy Self-Focused Life, I have listed important practices that must be done in order to be free of that “inspiring” and “convicting” voice of God.

These are 15 sure-fire methods for eradicating the [...]

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Tuning Out God:  
How to Eradicate Conviction and Live a Happy Self-Focused Life
Right off the bat, I’d like to say you don’t have to put up with that nagging voice inside you anymore.  We’ve all seen people who have given in and done as “the Lord” or “the Spirit” guided [...]