I haven’t missed an Indy 500 since 1972. When I was nine years old, I convinced my parents during the race to allow me to go to the gift shop by myself. I wanted a purchase that blue tie-dyed T-shirt in remembrance of this historic day. I had barely reached the shop when race officials […]

At nine years old, I walked down a dirt road compacted with sand and stone crunched by the horse-and-buggies that carried people to my home church a century earlier. As I crept inside the church’s double doors, I realized that it was just God and me, so I asked Him a question: “God, what do […]

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the father committed four acts atypical of a Middle Eastern patriarch. First, the father gave an unwarranted inheritance. Second, he ran to a prodigal son outside the city gates. Third, he restored him to authenticity, regardless of the cost. Fourth, he pleaded with an older son who attempted […]

The Gospels show us that sand-hearted sinners were drawn to Jesus more than stone-hearted legalists. Why? A glimpse at the geneaology of Jesus’ life gives us a clue. In it we see the stories of five women who were disreputable in the eyes of religious society. Tamar disguised herself and tricked her father-in-law into sleeping […]

Everyone wants wisdom, but what is it really, and where do we find it? Wisdom is God’s heart combined with street smarts, the vertical intersecting with the horizontal. Wisdom applies our relationship with God to our relationships with others, including our tasks. We were designed to have a heart for wisdom (Proverbs 3:5-6; 22:17-18), to […]

The first sin was followed by the world’s first self-restoration program. I call it “sin’s trifecta”: (1) Adam and Eve were ashamed because they had been swayed (Genesis 3:7), (2) they hid because they were afraid (Genesis 3:12-13), and (3) they blamed because they disobeyed (Genesis 3:12-13). Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree […]

When a vertical line intersects with a horizontal line, four quadrants result. These represent the four chambers of the spiritual heart. We can remember them with the acronym, WISE. The first chamber is the will, the chamber of our choices. The second is the intellect, or the mind, the chamber of our thoughts. The third […]

On Restoration Road, we are reminded that Christ the Restorer came to earth to inaugurate the kingdom of heaven, the biggest restoration project in the universe. He came to restore the unique expression of the Designer in each one of us. Unfortunately, we turn away from that design. Often times, we sign up for self-restoration, […]

CLAY is an acronym that helps us remember how to live with a humble heart. First, we confess to God our proud sinful hearts of sand or stone. Second, we learn His design for our lives from the Bible. Third, we apply what we learn from the Scriptures to our daily tasks and relationships. Fourth, […]

She sat in her car, With her fists in the air She screamed, “God I don’t love you, And I know you’re not there” She hardened her heart She let Satan inside Her faith became smaller Until it withered and died She prayed for love She prayed for healing But she felt all her prayers […]

A clay heart is a humble heart that lives in the sweet spot where our vertical relationship with God intersects with our horizontal relationship with others. In fact, the words “humility” and “humanity” come from the same Latin word, humus, which means “from the ground.” Consequently, humility is bending the knees of our hearts, “to […]

The Master Key that fully surrenders our hearts to the Restorer is cross-shaped, the perfect combination of the vertical intersecting with the horizontal. The vertical axis is our relationship with God. The horizontal axis is our relationship with people. In order to fully surrender the Master Key into the lock of pride on the human […]

Pride is a hard heart, one that makes itself higher than others. It comes in two forms: sand or stone. A sand heart focuses on people and tasks at the expense of God. It is loose and requires a storm to be shaped and restored. A stone heart pretends to focus on God at the […]

Pride is the lock on the human heart. Humility is the key. Imagine the inner workings of a lock fashioned with two concentric cylinders that are held together by four spring-loaded pins. The inner cylinder represents our spiritual heart. A key is the perfect combination for each respective lock. It pushes up the spring-loaded pins […]

Is there anything in your life that you would like to be made new? Like a classic car that needs restoration, each one of us must surrender our old basket case of a life to the Restorer, who disassembles and renovates the components of our lives, piece by piece, whether they be unrestored or self-restored. […]

Authenticity is said to be the highest value in our postmodern culture because it aligns our lives from the inside out.Consequently, we deconstruct every person we encounter to discover whether he or she is truly authentic. Pretense, the opposite of authenticity, misaligns our lives from the outside in. In the collector car world, we call […]

In the early 1930’s, famed car designer Ettore Bugatti crafted the world’s seven greatest classic cars, the Bugatti Royale’s. However, two remained lost for decades. The pursuit of these lost treasures prompted racer and car builder, Briggs Cunningham, to approach the wrought iron gate of Bugatti’s estate. Once inside, he noticed a brick wall that […]