OMG!  The Biltmore Estate! Ever heard of it or know anything about it?  Located in Asheville, North Carolina and built around 1896 by George Vanderbilt?  It’s the largest private home in the United States with 250 rooms! It sits on 8,000 acres of Blue Ridge hills with its opulent Gilded Age luxury which includes artwork from Monet and Renoir, a bowling alley and an indoor swimming pool.  My wife and I spent 8 hours at the estate and on the grounds last week after attending he

How could God let that happen?  I’ve been asked that questions numbers of times over the years as a first responder chaplain on scene standing with family members in the aftermath of a sudden death.  The mother of the son who overdosed, “How could God allow that to happen?”  The father who found his daughter after she hung herself, “What kind of God would allow my little girl to do such a thing?”  The mother of two precious little girls whose estranged husband murdered them a

I'm back. And "Oh, my back!" Yeah, the old back has been put to the test the past month as we made a big move to relocate from Nor Cal...

Heaven and Earth “Will he go to heaven?”  She looked me in the eye and asked me that question shortly after I arrived on scene.  Thirty...

Life is hard and wonderful at the same time. It is a complex tapestry woven with threads of joy, sorrow, triumph, and defeat. From the...

“God, I don’t know.  What do I know?  I know what I’ve learned about You. A lot. All my life. But what do I know? I do know what I see,...

As many of you know already, this happens all the time.  Like earlier this week.  I’m called to a home where a death has occurred.   A...

You may or may not be familiar with the large iconic neon Jesus Saves sign atop the landmark building in downtown Los Angeles (see...

If you are like me, having grown up in church hearing incredible bible stories of God’s amazing feats of power you may have developed a...

If you ever watched the movie Braveheart, you’ll never forget the ending scene where William Wallace (played by Mel you know who !)...

I knew it.  The paramedics knew it.  The doctors and nurses knew it.  The only one who didn’t know it was the father of the nine-year-old...

It changes you.  Hundreds and hundreds of times.  I can’t really count how many times over the past 25 years I’ve stood in the space...

Someone I love is going through a very difficult time.  We all know someone.  It may be ourselves.   We want to pray for God to do...

Nothing comes from nothing.  There must be something before nothing.   Or Someone? Bedtime is often when I face the mysteries of faith. ...

Can you imagine this? Let’s have some fun today.  Maybe you’ve had this wonder which entered your contemplative mind some time in your...

I went to see Lyle Lovett in concert the other night.  He was playing here in town just a few miles from home.  The first time Heidi and...

Over the years, especially the years where I served as a youth pastor, associate pastor and lead pastor in three different churches, I...

Seems to me, looking back in history, every generation has had concerns about their “youth.”  Perhaps it was that the youth of the day...

"Do you have a faith or faith community?” I asked the young woman.  Who gets asked that at 3AM in the morning, right? Someone who found...

God doesn’t stop war from happening. God doesn’t stop from happening cancer, strokes, dementia, Alzheimer’s, birth defects, diabetes,...