The story opens with Jesus teaching the crowd that had formed around him. The crowd included some Pharisees, teachers of the law, and people from “every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem” (Luke 5:17). Luke further tells us that “the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick” (Luke 5:17). Into this scene come four men, carrying their friend, a paralytic, on a mat. They were hoping to see Jesus. However, the crowd was so thick that they were unable to make

One day, while Jesus was in the region of Tyre and Sidon, a woman began to cry out after him, imploring him, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely demon-possessed” (Matthew 15:22). This was not the first time someone had approached Jesus, begging him for mercy and asking him for healing and deliverance. However, this woman was a gentile, a Canaanite, and a woman of Syrophoenician decent. After a while, and her continued pleas for mercy, the disciples

One Sabbath, while Jesus was teaching in a Jewish synagogue, there was a man “whose right hand was withered” (Luke 6:6). As Jesus was teaching, the “scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him” (Luke 6:7). Jesus, knowing their thoughts, called the man forward and asked those in attendance, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?” (Luke 6:9).

I am excited to announce the release of my latest (and first) ebook entitled Cultivating Hope: Three Keys to Enduring Hope. One of the most powerful forces that leads to human flourishing is hope. Hope is essential to our human existence. Hope enables us to thrive, even during the ups and downs of life. However, for many people, hope is in short supply. We all need hope, but far too often, hope seems elusive; hard to find and harder to maintain. So how does one cultivate hope

Starting something new always brings a mix of excitement and curiosity. Many years ago, I started a Christian blog called The Robe, a nickname given to me by a former pastor and inspired by the movie of the same name. However, the blog languished as I returned to school to earn my Master of Divinity degree from Regent University. With the rigors of my coursework, I no longer had time to continue to write my blog. Since graduating, I have focused mainly on writing books that s