Posts by francisanfuso

After a While You Get Used to It  A friend of a missionary was in a coffee shop in Beirut, Lebanon with three other people who had lived in Beirut…

Perry Como and the Our Father My father was in politics, and lived mostly in Washington D.C. Consequently, my twin brother and I were sent to a two-month long summer…

God Finds Us Fascinating There is no one more delighted about who you are than God. So much so, He thinks about you all the time. Actually, He created you…

Living Present, Fully Awake We are all wired differently. Each of us are given one-of-a-kind temperaments and personalities that are designed by God to connect with Him and others. So,…

Saying, “I Believe!” The other day I heard myself pray, “God, I want to believe.”      It got my attention. My prayer was weak and unconvincing. Upon further reflection, I realized…

Emotional Shock and Awe In our ever-changing, 24-hour news cycle, media saturated world, what used to be experienced as a periodic catastrophic event, now comes across the airwaves as a…

New Snorkel Mask I swim laps for exercise. But as I got older, I found my neck began to hurt more and more while I did. I have used swim…

The Bride of God’s Dreams The Declaration of Independence states unequivocally, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their…

Reality is My Friend I’ve had lots of friends over the years. Some close, and some not so close. I’ve even made friends of enemies, both real and imagined. But…

“Children, Your Father’s Home!” My sister-in-law Kathy tells the story of a relationship she had with a man she was about to marry. It was a few weeks prior to…

Working Through Fear We can learn a lot about fear from Alex Honnold, the elite rock climber who scaled the most difficult rock face of all, El Capitan, without ropes.…

When Jesus Disappears Did you ever notice that as soon as you see Jesus, He disappears? God reveals Himself to us in a supernatural way, and before we can wrap…

Flexibility Periodically, I receive a directional word from the Lord as to what my greatest need would presently be. Having retired from pastoring last year, and now being a health…

Life is a Jigsaw Puzzle Are you struggling to see how your life fits? It’s probably because you want to understand it. What if I told you: life was more…

Be Careful What You’re Chasing Close friends of ours have grandchildren who were recently chasing an animal around the back yard. Their father went out to investigate and found it…

Facing Your Fears Until we find our true identity, we won’t be able to face our greatest fears. The patriarch Jacob had been estranged from his brother Esau for decades,…

Hopelessness is a Lie When the Bible says to followers of Jesus, “…you will not grieve like people who have no hope,” (1 Thessalonians 4:13, NLT) does it mean, that…

The Least Person in Heaven Did you ever consider how significant it is to be a Christ-follower? Why are we in the New Testament age blessed beyond anyone in a…

Laughing With God Do you laugh with God? I hope you do. It’s so important to laugh with our close friends, and God wants to be our closest. The other…

Surprising God Would you like to surprise God? It sounds like it might be fun, but, sorry — you can’t. He already knows the past, present, and future simultaneously. And…

The Emotional Cost of Framing Pictures   I went to a store to get an important picture framed. It meant a great deal to me and had a lot of…

Feeling Bad About Yourself Would you like to have no good reason to feel bad about yourself? Then let Jesus forgive everything you’ve ever done bad. While you’re at it,…

Moving the Unmovable, Shaking the Unshakable Nothing in life is static. Everything is fluid…moveable…in motion. Yet, with the right amount of focus, what seems unchangeable can be conformed to God’s…

Grace and Truth How should we, as Christ-followers, communicate with our culture? We shouldn’t forget, how we share is as important as what we say. Unless truth is spoken in…

Aerial Skiers and Their Training Olympic Aerial Ski Jumpers ski off 10-foot ramps and are propelled 20 feet into the air while performing multiple flips before landing. It is amazing…

Being Used by God You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room for God to use you; nor the most talented. I’ve known lots of gifted people…

Google’s Culture of Collaboration A friend worked at Google and described how the company fostered a unique culture of collaboration. They believe the highest paid person in the room does…

Priceless It seems everything on Earth is either increasing or decreasing in value. A watch that once belonged to Paul Newman recently sold for $17 million. While a painting by…

Bad Bosses Ever have a “Bad Boss”? When I was a young Christian, I worked for six months in a casino as a dishwasher. Though I had a college degree,…

All I Had Left Was a Good Response I once spoke at a large Christian Festival, right before one of the most popular Christian musicians performed. 30,000 people were in…

Joy is a Conviction In 2 Corinthians 12:10, Paul the Apostle writes, “I am content with weaknesses, hardships, and calamities.” Had Paul’s perspective been so radically transformed, he actually was…

High Mountain Lakes While hiking around a high mountain lake, a knowledgeable friend told me that high mountain lake water levels remain the same, whether in drought or during elevated…

Fistless, Footless and Toothless Are you ready to fight for yourself and others? You need to be. A great evangelist, and ex-major league baseball player said, “I’m against sin. I’ll…

Inspired or Intimidated We’ve all been around extraordinary people: giants in some dimension; exceeding our abilities; dwarfing our capacity; excelling in a way we never have or ever will. When…

Second Chances At many points in life, each of us wish we could get a do-over. And no one does do-over’s better than God. God gives each of us 2nd…

Who Can I Help Today? Ever been around a “Cup is completely empty kind of person.” I had a roommate in college during my “I’m a hippie, why don’t you…

Quick to Label, Slow to Love Far right! Far left! Liberal, conservative, progressive, moderate, straight, gay! We live is a culture that is quick to Label, but slow to Love.…

How Do You See God How we see God will determine who we become, for it demonstrates how we see ourselves, and how we will ultimately act toward others. Is…

Dying to Self Dying to self is a major part of training our souls. Speaking of Jesus, the Bible says, “And being found in human form, he humbled Himself by…

Bronze Serpent Did you know that even good things can become idols…things that we begin to look to and trust more than God? In the Old Testament, a plague of…

The Hidden Value of What You Have There was a woman in the Bible who thought all she had was death, debt and destitution. But what she really had was…

God’s Leftovers Do we really believe that God “…is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think…?” That’s His promise to us in the Book…

Everybody Loves Something Everyone loves something! We can’t help ourselves. That’s how we’re wired. Hermits love solitude. Misers love money. Addicts love their addictions. Pundits love opinions. And we can…

Fighting Fear We all face fears. But the key to facing them is not running from them. Paul the Apostle said, “When we arrived in Macedonia, there was no rest…

The Keel In My Life I received an encouragement about the significance of my beautiful wife of forty years. It was affirming the reality that Suzie has been the keel…

Wait For Approval Do you spend too much time waiting for the approval of others? Many of us do. In the Book of Genesis, Jacob’s wife, Leah says, “God has…

Dying For Encouragement Do you feel like giving up on life? Before I met Jesus, I went through six months contemplating suicide every day. I once read about a businessman…

Proud To Have a Son Like You A 17-year old boy in New York City decided to end his life by jumping off a hotel roof. He had been beaten…