Month: September 2025

Time to Give Back

But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune. And so I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God . . . 1 Kings 5:4-5 In my first few attempts at recovery, I made little effort to help those…
Read more

My Emotional Behavior

But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.”  1 Kings 3:26 When I get short-tempered at work, I can usually keep my behavior in check well enough that my emotions don’t spill out into my words and actions. Even though I may sometimes feel like it, I don’t routinely yell…
Read more

Lawn Maintenance and Real Love

And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. 1 Kings 3:20 Early in our marriage, we moved into a neighborhood where most of the couples around us were in retirement, and all the…
Read more

You Get One Wish

Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people? 1 Kings 3:9 I imagine that everyone played this game as a kid – If you got one wish, what would it be? I recall that…
Read more

Anatomy of a Relapse

Shimei arose and saddled a donkey and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants. Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath. 1 Kings 2:40 Whenever I meet those who’ve done well in recovery and then relapsed, I ask them to describe how it happened. I think it’s important for them to analyze…
Read more

My Sweatshirt Shelves

The king replied to him, “Do as he has said, strike him down and bury him, and thus take away from me and from my father’s house the guilt for the blood that Joab shed without cause.” 1 Kings 2:31 Last December, my wife and I moved into our new home, putting everything in its…
Read more

Thoughts and Prayers

And he said, “Please ask King Solomon—he will not refuse you—to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.” 1 Kings 2:17 The phrase Thoughts and Prayers has once again come under some scrutiny recently. Whenever there’s some terrible national tragedy, there are those who feel powerless to help, but who want to express their…
Read more

Manly Behavior

Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes . . . 1 Kings 2:2-3 There’s a small controversy brewing with my football team this year regarding their new male cheerleaders. I’m pretty sure we’ve seen male cheerleaders previously, so…
Read more

Faith not Fear?

And Adonijah feared Solomon. So he arose and went and took hold of the horns of the altar. 1 Kings 1:50 When I was 35, I discovered there was an amateur football league in Minnesota and that there was a team right in my hometown! I wanted in. So, I signed up, even though I…
Read more

I Just Want My $100

Then all the guests of Adonijah trembled and rose, and each went his own way. 1 Kings 1:49 Early in our marriage, my wife and I were on vacation when we encountered an offer we couldn’t refuse. If we sat through a one-hour sales pitch for a timeshare, we’d get a $100 gift card. We…
Read more