The Daily Memo

When Bill Pinkney sailed solo around the world in 1992—taking the hard route around the perilous Great Southern Capes—he did it for a higher purpose. His voyage was to inspire and educate children. That included students at his former inner-city Chicago elementary school. His goal? To show how far they could go by studying hard and making a commitment—the word he chose in naming his boat. When Bill takes schoolkids on the water in Commitment, he says, “They&rsquo…

My friend’s eyes revealed what I was feeling—fear! We two teens had behaved poorly and were now cowering before the camp director. The man, who knew our dads well, shared lovingly but pointedly that our fathers would be greatly disappointed. We wanted to crawl under the table—feeling the weight of personal responsibility for our offense. God gave Zephaniah a message for the people of Judah that contained potent words about personal responsibility for sin …

The spirit of our day is a soft acceptance of everything — except deep conviction in anything. This is where Jesus will suddenly confront the world as a great rock confronts the river flowing ever downhill. He is immovable. The cry used to be for “tolerance,” by which we meant, “We have very strong differences, but we will not let those be the cause of hatred or violence between us.” Now it is something else, where all convictions are softened…

More of God comes to us as we love God. The more that we love God, the more we are able to experience him. Part of this has to do with the nature of God, and part of it has to do with our own human nature. You understand from your own relationships, your story of love, that you don’t give your heart away to just anyone. You don’t give access to the deeper places in your soul to just any idle acquaintance — certainly not to someone who is at the same time…

Many experts agree that listing all the things you can be grateful for is an effective way to stay positive and joyful. And it’s true that focusing on what’s going right in your life can bring perspective to what’s going wrong. However, that mindset can also fall short of how God wants us to respond to our circumstances. The Bible tells us not only to give thanks for everything in our life (including what we see as negative) but also to give thanks.…

Our heavenly Father wants us to know how much He loves and cares for us. In fact, today’s passage says that nothing can separate us from His love. He has made this clear through: • Revelation of Himself. In Scripture, we learn that God made us in His image and has a purpose for us. Sin separated us from Him, but He has a solution to our problem. • Provision of a Savior. We were trapped by our sinful nature and under a sentence of eternal death&mdash…

True strength does not come out of bravado. Until we are broken, our life will be self-centered, self-reliant; our strength will be our own. So long as you think you are really something in and of yourself, what will you need God for? I don’t trust a man who hasn’t suffered; I don’t let a man get close to me who hasn’t faced his wound. Think of the posers you know—are they the kind of man you would call at 2:00 A.M., when life is collapsing…

Dan endured daily beatings from the same prison guard. He felt compelled by Jesus to love this man, so one morning, before the beating was about to begin, Dan said, “Sir, if I’m going to see you every day for the rest of my life, let’s become friends.” The guard said, “No sir. We can never be friends.” Dan insisted and reached out his hand. The guard froze. He began to shake, then grabbed Dan’s hand and wouldn’t let go. Tears…

Father’s Day is in the rear-view mirror but oddly enough I’ve been thinking about my dad quite a bit lately. He went to be with the Lord on January 12th of 2010. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him face to face. Yet, I’m recalling fond memories of projects we did together, the time we spent at ball games, and just having him present. He was a tough guy. Never had much to say. Rough around the edges, but kind at heart. He gave His life to the…