The Daily Memo

We don’t know much about stages of development in our instant culture. We have someone else make our coffee for us. We no longer have to wait to have our photos developed—not even an hour—for now we have digital cameras that deliver back to us the image, instantly. We don’t have to wait to get in touch with someone—we can e-mail them, page them, call them on a cell phone, instant-message them this moment. We don’t need to wait for our…

Of all the prayers that rise from human lips on this troubled planet, the vast majority must be some version of, “Help!” That’s why we began with the Cry of the Heart. But second place of “most often prayed” has to be in the genre of, “God—what am I supposed to do?” Guidance, clarity, direction—doesn’t that seem to be one of the main reasons we pray at all? What do we do about our son? Should I take this job? Where…

Michael was diving for lobster when a humpback whale caught him in its mouth. He pushed back in the darkness as the whale’s muscles squeezed against him. He thought he was done. But whales don’t prefer lobstermen, and thirty seconds later the whale spit Michael into the air. Amazingly, Michael had no broken bones—only extensive bruises and one whale of a story. He wasn’t the first. Jonah was swallowed by “a huge fish” (Jonah 1:17), and he…

Hopefully by now you are ready to let God help you love everyone—even people who are hard to love. There’s something I’d like you to think about: In the process of our quest to learn more about love, we want to make sure that we are not the one who is hard to love. I admit that I was very hard to love for many years. Because of my abusive past, I wanted to control everything and everyone, so I was only happy when I got my way. But I am so grateful to God…

The Arrows strike at the most vital places in our hearts, the things we care most about. The deepest questions we ever ask are directly related to our hearts' greatest needs and the answers life gives us shape our images of ourselves, of life, and of God. Who am I? The Romance whispers that we are someone special, that our heart is good because it is made for someone good; the Arrows tell us we are a dime a dozen, worthless, even dark and twisted, dirty. Where is life…

God doesn’t need us. He knows exactly what steps to take in order to accomplish His purposes. Yet at the same time, He calls us to be devoted to prayer (Col. 4:2). And if we’ll obey, here are some blessings that await us: • Prayer changes us. As we seek the Lord’s face and spend time in His Word, we’re transformed. His desires become ours, and our thinking more closely aligns with His thoughts. • The Lord answers our petitions. He…

We must forgive those who hurt us. The reason is simple: Bitterness and unforgiveness set their hooks deep in our hearts; they are chains that hold us captive to the wounds and the messages of those wounds. Until you forgive, you remain their prisoner. Paul warns us that unforgiveness and bitterness can wreck our lives and the lives of others (Eph. 4:31; Heb. 12:15). We have to let it all go. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (Col. 3:13) Now—listen carefully.…

In 1889, the most ambitious private home construction project in the United States began. On-site manufacturing produced some 32,000 bricks a day. The work continued until the completion of George Vanderbilt II’s “summer house”—six years later. The result was the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. To this day, it remains the largest private residence in America, with 250 rooms (including 35 bedrooms and 43 bathrooms) consuming a staggering 178…

God has a beauty to unveil. There's a reason that a man is captivated by a woman. Eve is the crown of creation. If you follow the Genesis narrative carefully, you'll see that each new stage of creation is better than the one before. First, all is formless, empty and dark. God begins to fashion the raw materials, like an artist working with a rough sketch or a lump of clay. Light and dark, land and sea, earth and sky—it's beginning to take shape. With a,…