One of the most common principles by which people seek success in life is “look out for number one.” It is very natural and starts from birth when one of the first words each child learns is “mine.”

The news media, department stores, churches are all telling us that Christmas will be different this year. The COVID-19 virus will certainly change the way that we celebrate and gather. It will be especially hard because we may not be able to see those who we only see at Christmas. It will b…

During our engagement, my wife and I hiked down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and then out with seven other friends. We carried backpacks, which had all our provisions for just three days. It’s amazing, however, how the ounces all add up to pounds. After our stay at Phantom Ranch, I was …

— By Pastor Paul Witkop — The 23rd Psalm is, perhaps, the most well-known scripture passage. My second-grade teacher, in a public school, even had us memorize it as classical poetry. I have been with people who suffer from advanced dementia, who do not know even their own adult kids — and ye…

— By Pastor Paul Witkop —  One of my favorite accounts from the life of Jesus is when Jesus and the disciples are traveling on the Sea of Galilee. A gigantic storm erupts, and everyone is afraid, that is everyone except Jesus, who happens to be sleeping in front of the boat. The disciples woke […]

By Paul Witkop – We live in difficult times. The financial and housing markets go up and down. The coronavirus is an unknown force that is causing chaos. We look to the government and the next election for hope — and it’s not there. We live in the most educated, the most technologically adva…

By Paul Witkop – What is your challenge today? We all have them. The older we grow, the more we realize that despite all of our education, expertise and experience, we don’t have the answers to every problem we encounter. Sooner or later, there comes a challenge that will bring us to the hum…

By Paul Witkop – I am reading a very informative and convincing book by Dr. Mark Hyman, a nutritional expert. He has reminded me that anyone who wants to be an Olympic athlete would probably not adopt a diet of donuts and Twinkies. If you wanted to create a gourmet meal, would you start with […]

By Paul Witkop – When I was about 12, my close friend Jeff had a gold colored Schwinn Stingray bicycle with a banana seat and 3-speed stick shift. I wanted one too…very badly. It is called envy and it starts young. Experience has shown me that envy is a very destructive force. It is a […]

By Paul Witkop – You and I have been given one life. We do not know how many years will be given to us on this earth. That is why I try to live with the mindset that “every day is a gift.” In Psalm 118:24, the psalmist writes, “This is the day that the […]

By Paul Witkop – Author Ken Davis tells this story… A woman happened to be looking out of the window of her home one day. She was horrified to see her German shepherd shaking the life out of the neighbor’s pet rabbit. Her family had been quarreling with these neighbors; this was certainly go…

By Paul Witkop – What is your challenge today? We all have them. The older we grow, the wiser we become if we realize that despite all our education, expertise and experience, we don’t have the answers to every problem we encounter. Sooner or later, there comes a challenge that will bring us…

By Paul Witkop – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight.” —Proverbs 3:5-6 This verse is one of my favorites. At first glance, it seems like a logical formula for getting God to do what […]

By Paul Witkop – Actor Jim Carrey said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of, so they can see that it’s not the answer.” Jesus told us a rather sobering and direct story to help us with this question. He said, “There was a wealthy man whose bus…

By Pastor Paul Witkop – The 23rd Psalm is, perhaps, the most well-known scripture passage. My second-grade teacher in a public school had us memorize it as classical poetry. I have been with people who have dementia. Their condition is so advanced that they do not know even their own adult k…

By Paul Witkop – In 2018, Easter was on April Fools’ Day. The last time these two notable days fell on the same day was 1956. After 2018, the next time is 2029 and then again in 2040. After that, we have to wait until 2108. (Some Gregorian calendar trivia.) April Fools’ Day is an […]

By Paul Witkop – It took me a long time to learn how to swim. My parents, not good swimmers themselves, faithfully drove me to swimming lessons every week for many years. They were determined that I would learn to swim. I might be the only person in history to flunk the YMCA swimming classes […]

By Paul Witkop – We are at a time in our life where it feels like the money that comes in seems to go out just as quickly. We are parents to three high school graduates who are furthering their education with college and graduate schools. Between higher education, food, cars and clothing, ou…

By Paul Witkop – My conversation with a man recently took an interesting turn when he seriously questioned my sanity. I told him that after a careful analysis of other options available that explain life and our human purpose, I have made the personal choice to trust my life to Jesus Christ.…

– By Pastor Paul Witkop Your life is a delicate balancing act. Our activities include work, family relationships, home repairs, laundry and other chores, exercise, recreation, worship, volunteering and eating. One newspaper polled experts from all these arenas as to the minimum daily require…

By Paul Witkop – Discouragement is rampant these days. You could be in a very tough time right now…you or somebody close could be out of work…your finances might not be adding up…your marriage might be very broken…you might have medical challenges or even challenges with your parents or your…

By Paul Witkop – What is your challenge today? We all have them. The older we grow, the wiser we become if we realize that despite all of our education, expertise and experience, we don’t have the answers to every problem we encounter. Sooner or later, there comes a challenge that will bring…

By Paul Witkop – The new year does not come for another three months, but I recently started a new exercise program.   The new program involves a new routine and after each workout I am completely drained. Yet, I feel strangely invigorated.  Each day, the voices in my mind wage war.  One voi…

By Paul Witkop – The 23rd Psalm is, perhaps, the most well-known scripture passage. My second grade teacher, in a public school, even had us memorize it as classical poetry.  I have been with people who suffer from advanced dementia, who do not know even their own adult kids – and yet, when …

By Paul Witkop –   How do we determine our highest priorities in life? Jesus told us a rather sobering and direct story to help us with this question. There is a wealthy man whose business was very successful. He asked himself, “What should I do, for I don’t have enough space to store my […]

By Paul Witkop – We live in difficult times. The financial and housing markets go up and down. We look to the government and the next election for hope – and it’s not there. We live in the most educated, the most technologically advanced culture ever. Yet there are so many people seemingly h…

By Paul Witkop – If you have ever watched a Presidential debate, you have heard each of the candidates express confidently that their leadership will make United States strong again. In the political arena, showing or admitting weakness makes a person less likely to be elected. Yet, no one e…

By Paul Witkop – I saw a jewelry store advertise that the way to make Christmas memorable was to give or receive a piece of jewelry purchased from their store and give it to someone special. Just think about it. What are your best memories at Christmas? Was it something under the tree that made […]

By Paul Witkop – If you wanted to be an Olympic athlete, would you go on a donuts and Twinkies diet? If you wanted to create a gourmet meal, would you start with inferior ingredients?  Most of us understand that what we put into our bodies is vital in determining our daily performance as well […]

By Paul Witkop – There is something inside of you and something inside of me that might need to be diminished. It can keep you from celebrating other people’s success. It can keep you from asking for forgiveness when you are wrong or even when you think you are only a little bit wrong. It. […]

By Paul Witkop – During our engagement, my wife and I hiked down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and then out with seven other friends. We carried backpacks, which had all our provisions for just three days. It’s amazing, however, how the ounces all add up to pounds. After our stay at Phantom […]

By Paul Witkop – I have three brothers. They all visited me on Waste Management Open week to celebrate one of their birthdays, so we decided to go to the Open on Thursday. It was a beautiful day, for sure. There were 118,000 people there – the biggest Thursday ever, exceeding the record by 3…

By Paul Witkop – One of the most common principles by which people seek success in life is “look out for number one.” It is very natural and starts from birth when one of the first words each child learns is “mine.” I want to suggest another way to live that will be even more […]

By Paul Witkop – Our family dynamics have changed radically in the last three years.  Two of our three children are now living in college dormitories.  The youngest, who is still at home, answers all of our many questions with one word answers.  Our house has become much quieter.  We remembe…

By Paul Witkop – This summer, my family and I along with several other friends spent two months in rural villages in Uganda. We went with an excellent compassion organization called Hope4Kids. Our goal was to meet new friends in Uganda and discover ways to help. We knew that Uganda is one of…

By Paul Witkop – My children have been involved in sports teams for many years. When they first started to play, the emphasis was on enthusiastic participation, good sportsmanship and energy-burning fun. However, in the middle of the soccer games, one of them would ask, “What’s the score…are…

By Paul Witkop – When I was a baby, I’m sure my parents fed me strained spinach. That was the good life, because I didn’t know any better. Of course, today I think it tastes like dog-spit. We banned it from our kid’s diet because it made me sick just to look at it. When […]

By Paul Witkop – Author Ken Davis tells this story. A woman happened to be looking out of the window of her home one day. She was horrified to see her German shepherd shaking the life out of the neighbor’s pet rabbit. Her family had been quarreling with these neighbors; this was certainly go…

By Paul Witkop – It took me a long time to learn how to swim. My parents, not good swimmers themselves, faithfully drove me to swimming lessons every week for many years. They were determined that I would learn to swim. I might be the only person in history to flunk the YMCA swimming classes […]

By Paul Witkop – Some might consider it very presumptuous to speak for Jesus on anything, especially topics he never directly addressed. However, I think that we can look at the New Testament and make some guesses. First, would Jesus celebrate birthdays? John tells us that Jesus attended wed…

By Paul Witkop – We are at a time in our life where it feels like the money that comes in seems to go out just as quickly. We are parents to three teenagers and between college, cars and clothing, our budgets have been stretched. We know that there are many others who are in […]

By Paul Witkop – One day, if it has not already hit you, you will ask a sobering question that ought to make you squirm.  Is there more to life than accumulating more toys?  Put another way, how do we determine our highest priorities in life? Jesus told us a rather sobering and direct story […]

By Paul Witkop – In our hearts, all of us want to make a difference. We think of ourselves as compassionate people. After all, have you ever met a truly happy self-centered person? However, we see the sobering statistics about hunger in the world and can easily become discouraged. According …

By Paul Witkop – We live in a difficult time, when people are looking for hope – something to breathe life into our spirits. The financial and housing markets go up and down. We look to the government for hope – and it’s not there. We live in the most educated and the most economically […]

By Paul Witkop – Television writers often use cliffhangers, episodes with ending scenes in which the main character is left in a perilous and risky situation, to entice us back to watch the next show in the series. Cliffhangers make for great television. Our nation has just avoided falling o…

By Paul Witkop – What is your challenge today?  We all have them. The older we grow, the more wise we become if we realize that despite all of our education, expertise and experience, we don’t have the answers to every problem we encounter.  Sooner or later, there comes a challenge that will…