Two of the most detrimental things a Christian can do to their faith-walk is either, 1) develop a why-bother attitude about prayer, thinking God will just do whatever He wants anyway, or 2) treat God as some kind of Genie in a bottle to be approached only when we want something from Him. ...

I know it sounds silly, but it's true: My cat taught me the true meaning of grace. He also taught me how to love unconditionally, and how to forgive seventy-times seven.

Here's what happened....

I’ve been reading through the Old Testament and it seems so shocking the way the Israelites were constantly forgetting the Lord and going back to worshipping idols made of gold. I’ve always found that hard to comprehend: If you saw God part the Red Sea with your own eyes, how could you later “forget” about him and bow down to a hand-crafted, golden calf, of all things?

Yet every generation seemed to breed a new generation that had no interest in God. And of course, the children hadn’t seen the miracles of God firsthand, as their parents had, so to them, it really had no more effect on their lives than any other “fairytale.” ...