Fresh Start Posts

Be sure to check out our latest Fresh Start blog posts. They’re packed with insightful articles that will help you learn more about God and how you can grow in your faith.

  • I heard something recently on a Christian radio station that made me cringe…until I digested what the host had said. He mentioned that his pastor shared that Jesus isn’t really the reason for the season. You are. My initial thought was, oh boy, the last......

  • Here is the Final Jeopardy Clue from the episode of “Jeopardy” that aired on December 12: A 1964 review of this TV special, still played today, mentions “trials as an outcast” & “the songs of Johnny Marks.” Ramona and I were out for dinner, and......

  • I (and others) have said it many times before: Satan’s most brilliant and deadly tactic has been to convince so many people that he’s not real. I preach often about spiritual warfare, but who is going to fight what they believe is an imaginary enemy?......

  • “I Met Jesus in a Parking Lot” is a song by the contemporary Christian group Cochren & Company. It’s the story of how frontman Michael Cochren came to Christ. I wasn’t saved in a parking lot, but I did have an encounter with Jesus recently......

  • Many of us are still recovering from the annual overeating fest known as Thanksgiving. Others spent Thursday alone, hungry, or desperate, or possibly all three. All of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior are called upon to be in a......

  • Here’s a little exercise for you: do a Google search for “what does it mean to meditate on God.” You will get thousands of results for “meditating on God’s Word.” Yes, it’s important that we not only read, study, or even memorize God’s Word; it......

  • My friend Ron had a very brief stint as an amateur boxer. He loves to tell the story of a fight where his opponent, to say the least, was getting the better of him. Ron felt as though punches were coming at him from every......

  • In a recent Instagram video, Zach Windahl, the author of “The Bible, Simplified,” made a point that many modern believers might find jarring. He said: “I hate it when people say, ‘Jesus loves you just as you are,’ because He doesn’t. If that were the......

  • There is a single verse of the Bible that has generated immeasurable debate over the past 2,000 years: “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to......

  • Seventy years ago, this past June 8, a routine baseball move was made. No one realized it then, and few know about it now, but it turned out to be a decision that would dramatically impact baseball for decades. The Brooklyn Dodgers optioned a left-handed......

  • The past two weeks, we have been looking at the temptation of Jesus in Luke 4:1-13, as utilized by author Peter Scazzero in his book “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.” Scazzero sees “three false identities or masks that Satan offers each one of us.” I never identified......

  • Last week in Fresh Start, I told you about a book my pastoral coach has me reading: Peter Scazzero’s “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.” In the temptation of Jesus in Luke 4:1-13, Scazzero sees “three false identities or masks that Satan offers each one of us.”  They......

  • Allen, my pastoral coach, (and he’s an awesome coach!) often suggests books for me to read. The most recent one: Peter Scazzero’s “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality” has already rocked my world. In the temptation of Jesus in Luke 4:1-13, Scazzero sees “three false identities or masks......

  • When I was growing up, there was a kid my age who came from a devout Baptist family. I once heard an adult observe how good the kids were in that family and how they were faithfully in church. The kid my age often spoke......

  • As the Major League Baseball season winds down, controversy is heating up outside T-Mobile Park, the home of the Seattle Mariners. As the “Seattle Times” reports: If you have been to a game at T-Mobile Park, you have heard them. They are omnipresent. They are......

  • Recently, I was briefly taken in by a biblical myth that apparently has been around for a few centuries. One of my daily devotionals focused on Psalm 51:8: Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Psalm 51 is David’s......

  • Ramona and I had friends over for dinner recently. It was a beautiful evening, and we were grilling chicken, so we decided to eat outside. That changed when yellowjackets decided to join us, chasing us inside. As we scooped up dishes and food from the......

  • We take a lot of things for granted, perhaps no more than the sun. That’s right, the sun. Sure, you complain when it goes missing behind the clouds or when you get too much of it. But when was the last time you marveled at......

  • Jim Marshall, by every meaningful measure, was one of the very best defensive linemen ever to play in the NFL. His 20 NFL seasons included 282 consecutive starts and 127 quarterback sacks. He was part of the feared Purple People Eaters, Minnesota Vikings defensive line.......

  • What is the one sin (committed by those who have accepted Christ) that insults God? Here is a popular guess:Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, either in this......