by Dr. Nicolas Ellen, ACBC Certified Biblical Counselor and Fellow

What Lens Are You Looking Through?

Correcting Your Vision and Lifestyle through the Lens of Proverbs 3:5–6

My family enjoys taking pictures. We have pictures of food, fellowships, travel—you name it. These pictures remind us of the who, what, when, where and how in our family dynamic. Sometimes the pictures come out blurry and distorted. When that happens, we view our past experiences from a distorted perspective.

As we deal with the pandemic, the racial tensions, the political partisanship, the financial challenges, and culture wars that are happening before our eyes, we must check the lens of our soul to make sure we do not have a distorted view of what is around us. A distorted view will cause us to live according to what seems right and sounds right according to our own understanding, rather than God’s.

How do we develop a distorted view? I believe a distorted view of life grows through four basic steps…

by Pastor Rick Burns, U.S. Army Combat Veteran

(Psalm 139)

Like many others, I want to be a difference maker—as an American, as a Christian, and as a veteran. I want to make an impact on the lives of others.

Looking throughout the Scriptures and at people in our world today who make the deepest godly impact on others, I discovered three characteristics they have in common. Psalm 139 highlights them perfectly.

Recognition of the Power, Presence, and Awesomeness of a Sovereign God

In verses 1–18 of Psalm 139, David recognizes the power, presence and awesomeness of a sovereign God. Take a look at these verses. Notice how they outline God’s omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. See how they declare the perfection in His creation.

Verses 12–15 speak of a masterpiece, incredible woven and meticulously crafted by the hands of God.

That perfect tapestry is you and me. Until we can see God in all His beauty, perfection, glory, and majesty and believe He has designed us to fulfill a special purpose, we will never have a spiritual impact on the world around us. Every gift and characteristic He gave each of us was intentional. He is sovereign…

by Barrett Craig, U.S. Navy, Chaplain, ACBC Certified Biblical Counselor

Our ship was in a precarious situation. We had taken out a high value target, immediately making us the adversary’s focus. Circumstantially, we couldn’t move from our position. We couldn’t get out. We couldn’t move forward or back. We were stuck. We were truly in a kill or be killed situation.

The standoff took about two weeks. We organized ourselves better. I assume the adversary organized themselves better. We knew the fight would be brutal—missiles, hundreds of small boats, gunfire. The adversaries would try to overwhelm us. They would try to fire so much at us we wouldn’t be able to keep up. We would stop a lot of it, but we wouldn’t stop it all. The whole engagement would be much bigger than we could handle. We as a ship would possibly lose in battle, but the Navy would ultimately win the war…