Several years ago I had the pleasure of meeting author Peter Lundell at a Christian writers’ conference. Since then I’ve been enjoying his monthly blog called Connections. With permission, I’m happy to share with you his latest post. I hope you find it as meaningful as I do. Here’s a challenge: Don’t criticize anything or anyone for twenty-four hours. If you think, What a dumb idea! You just lost it. Start over. When I first heard that and tried it years ago, I challenged myself to not criticize anyone for twenty-four hours. And I failed every day. But I…
Hello friends! I invite you to listen and enjoy my recent interview on the Hope Unyielding podcast. Writer and host Hope Johnson and I discuss why peace is so important for Christians in today’s culture of busyness and distraction. “Peace is something that we all desire, yet often feels elusive in today’s world. Even before the pandemic hit, the fast pace of American culture combined with the ever-increasing usage of technology has many of us feeling frantic and frazzled. Cheryl Elton has made it a life goal to pursue Christ’s perfect peace, and today she shares what she has learned through…
The Bible is not a book full of clever maxims, helpful suggestions, or do’s and don’ts—it is the book of LIFE! As such, its many principles and paradoxes challenge our human thinking: when we give, we receive; when we lose ourselves, we find ourselves; to be rich, we must become poor; exalting ourselves, we’ll be humbled, but humbling ourselves, we’ll be exalted. God longs to fill us and be part of all we do, all we are, and all we become, but His hands are tied if we’re hanging on to our human pride. When we think our ways are…
A new year brings hope, a sense of fresh beginnings and better days. For many, it’s a time to set goals and sharpen our focus on what is truly important. Enter the “SMART” acronym . . . A well-known business model for setting goals and objectives says SMART goals are: S-specific; M-measurable; A-attainable; R-relevant; T-time-bound. A lot has been written on these highly effective concepts, and they offer a practical measuring stick for success when making personal goals. But let’s also consider Ephesians 6, which gives us the crucial reminder that at its core, all of life is spiritual. Finally,…
At the college I attended, in addition to completing required courses in your major—mine being English—students also submitted a portfolio of their best work, which after the approval of an academic Board of professors qualified them for graduation. Tucked inside my portfolio, I still have an orange 3 x 5 card on which one of my professors wrote: A beautiful body of work—I’m proud of you and feel lucky to be one of your readers. . . . I hope you continue writing and try to start publishing. You have talent, and heart, and wonderful wit; and equally important, you…
