Creativity (January 1990) – I occasionally find myself sitting, staring, at the blank screen of my word processor — the creative juices dried like cornstalks on a winter field…
No More Schlock (February 1990) – The old German schlockmeister had a stall in a back alley where he sold cheap, shoddy merchandise. Today schlock has become the byword for anything trashy. In recent years the schlockmeister has started selling Christian merchandise…
Politics, Pastors and Poets (March 1990 – The first trip I made to Czechoslovakia was 18 years ago. I was there with a Dutch Bible smuggler. Besides distributing Bibles, we attended underground prayer meetings. One of these was held in the basement room of a university in Prague…
Evangelism’s New Leader (April 1990) – Following Billy Graham’s crusade in London last year, British theologian Clifford Hall wrote: “If only someone on the platform had had the faith to pray for the sick, believing that the prayer of faith prevails over sickness.”…
Healing the Hurts of Life (May 1990) – In his book Some Things I Have Learned Since I Knew it All, Jerry Cook tells the story of his open-heart surgery…
Holy Kissing (June 1990) – Few things traumatize us real men any more than being kissed by another man. I vividly remember the first time it happened to me. The fellow was a transplant into our church from Ohio. Broad and bearded, he came forward after the service to introduce himself. I tried to shake his hand. Instead he kissed me on the cheek…
Legacy (July 1990) – Shortly after my dad became a Christian, at age 62, he began looking around for things he could give away. Although he had been successful in his Florida business and in citrus agriculture, and had accumulated many things, giving became more important than getting. He spent the last 26 years of his life giving things away. He once told me his goal was to be like Job, also a successful businessman, who left this world as he entered it — owning nothing…
I’m Pro-Life By Choice (August 1990) – We have four generations living in our home. Jackie’s mother, Daisy Law, is 82 years old. She has Parkinson’s disease. Some days she is fine, helping Jackie in the kitchen. Other days she can’t get out of bed. We also have Amy Kathryn Buckingham, age 10 months…
Looking Ahead (September 1990) – The last Friday of June I sat in the office of a strange doctor and listened as he gave me news that has radically changed everything in my life…
Healed! (October 1990) – The diagnosis of cancer catapulted me into a new dimension of life. Suddenly I was helpless, face-to-face with a reality that was bigger than I. Some evil force was trying to direct — to take — my life. I seemed caught in its inescapable power, no longer able to plan my future, no longer master of my body nor captain of my soul. I was wrenched and torn by a force greater than anything I had ever experienced…
Learning About Pacing (November 1990)When I was a child, our family made an annual pilgrimage to visit our “kissin’ cousins” in the Bluegrass state of Kentucky. I loved the beaten biscuits and fried chicken for breakfast. Most of all, I loved to watch the race horses training…
Praying For The Forgotten (December 1990) – The late-night phone call was from David McKemy, a young evangelist with the United Pentecostal Church. David grew up in our church and still checks in with me on a regular basis. “I’ve been praying for Jim Bakker,” he told me…