Check out this little video…it’s pretty funny, but has a great message!  I love my Mom…she’s talented, caring, genuine, funny, witty, nurturing, spiritually strong, honest, authentic and a great Nana too!

Hope you have a  wonderful Mother’s Day, Mom!

In the last post, I introduced the thing with which I am wrestling these days.  It is not a life or death struggle…one that will either result in my fully embracing faith or chucking it for something else.  However, for someone reading this, it may be that kind of struggle.  It is for that reason, that I am endeavoring to be totally honest with my thoughts, questions, conflicts and seeking.

Have you ever doubted?  I mean…has the thought ever passed through your mind, what if all this stuff I believe is just a fairytale?  Now I know that sounds pretty strange, perhaps, coming from a pastor, but I’m just trying to be real here, right?  I once heard a minister/college professor/leader state that he’d never doubted anything about God, the Bible and his faith.  I thought…good for you…I think you’re the exception, not the rule.  I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve had those thoughts go through my mind.  The good thing for me (perhaps) is that those thoughts never lingered there for long and it has never cropped up very often.  I can’t say that it isn’t for lack of having my world rocked.  That is usually when we get those doubts and ask the questions this series is asking, right?  I mean…my world was rocked as a new believer when my parents divorced when I was 12, my world was rocked when I witnessed my grandfather’s death in a very volatile and disturbing circumstance, my world was rocked in trying to figure out relationships in college, my world was rocked when learning to be a husband that knew how to be a husband, my world was rocked when having to face some addictive behaviors, my world was rocked while trying to come to terms with some very deep and personal issues that are too difficult to share here.  So the circumstances have been available to cause me to seriously question…”Why me God?,” or to say, “If God is love then why…?”–you get the picture.

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12:05 am and two miles from my exit…my wife asks me what’s on my mind…I guess I’m a little quieter than usual.  “I have a lot to do in the next 24 hours,” I tell her.  I’ve been out of the office for a little over a week and only one day to catch up before another short trip that leads up to Sunday.  I do that…get lost in my thoughts when there is a lot looming over my head.  I’m planning and plotting to come up with a way to get done what seems to be mocking me from the shadows.  Somehow, I’ll get it all done…or at least what has to be done.

However, there’s something more that is troubling my mind on this journey.  It’s a gnawing at my heart and my mind that just won’t go away.  It’s the thought that I later posted as my Facebook status, “I am so frustrated that God doesn’t fit in my box…yet if He did, I wouldn’t believe in Him any more.”

The last month has been filled with some good moments of worship, prayer, walking with brothers in pursuit of Jesus.  A covenant commitment has brought some spiritual rewards for me…and others.  I’ve been encouraged and bolstered in my faith by God’s Spirit and through the interaction with brothers.  I’ve found strength and resolution in some aspects of my marital relationship.  These days have been, at times, uplifting, and at others, extremely difficult.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking for sympathy or pity; I’m in a much better place than a brother with whom I’ve been walking.  My faith isn’t shaken, for sure…but, out of this has come as much a question as an answer…and as much an answer as a question.  The question is “Why?” Continue Reading…

Having spent some time in the education field, I’ve seen it quite a bit.  Little kindergarteners on their first days of school sometimes have a hard time separating from mom or dad.  When dropped off for school, they may go kicking and screaming into the classroom, not wanting to have the parent leave them.  It has nothing to do with any bad experiences they’ve had with school…after all, their experience at this point is likely nil.  It usually doesn’t have anything to do with the environment or the teacher.  Most kindergarten classrooms are colorful, fun and inviting for little ones…and, let’s face it, most kindergarten teachers are just as sweet as they can be.  They have to be to want to do their job, right? The bottom line…the problem is all about separation anxiety. Continue Reading…

Tandem:  a word originally used to refer to a carriage pulled by two horses harnessed, one behind the other.  It later was transferred to the description of a bicycle for two riders, one behind the other.  In more general usage, it has come to refer to a relationship where any two people, or things, are coupled in a strong partnership for a specific purpose.  This, of course, has enormous meaning for us in the Body of Christ.

Sharing My Experience

It happens each evening at 9:30, or thereabouts.  A phone call and a conversation with a friend and with God.  A few weeks ago, I was talking with my friend who lives about 2000 miles away.  We talk from time to time and share what’s going on in life.  We typically pray together as well.  However, about a week or so ago, as he and I talked, he shared about some issues of life that we’ve talked about for months now.  He had come to the point of desperation in wanting to hear the voice of God and discern His guidance, and experience His provision for these needs.  He had entered into a time of fasting and prayer during the Lenten season leading up to the Resurrection Celebration, in order to hear from God.  It was in that conversation that I felt the leading of the Holy Spirit to make a covenant with my friend to join in this process of seeking God in these matters.  As I joined him, I also began to seek God for needs in my own life.  We are now over a week into this covenant process and we have yet to see all that God is going to do, but the process is already proving beneficial…mutually.

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[These thoughts are "inspired" by the Spirit, the Word and Francis Chan, in no particular order.  I recommend his book entitled, Crazy Love.]

Failure…an ugly word.  But it’s very real.  Most of us are scared to death of it.

In the career field, failure can mean the difference between a six-figure income and the unemployment line.  In relationships, it can determine whether we grow old together or seek a divorce attorney.  In our educational pursuits, it can bring us a diploma or extend our stay.  In life…it means we’re human.  That’s not an excuse, it’s a fact.  failing is inevitable in some form.  Obviously, the level of failure and the type of failure will determine the resulting consequences.  However, I would venture to guess that most of us want to avoid it if at all possible.

What do we do to avoid failure?  How do we respond when we have failed and decide we are desperate to change it?  In particular, when we come face-to-face with the reality of our lukewarm, apathetic or flailing spiritual condition, what is plan A?  For most people, it is to immediately start thinking, “I need to try harder…to quit playing around and get serious.”  Or, we may ask ourselves, “What are the things I need to do in order to get this turned around?”  The idea is “trying harder.”  As a result, we start the list…pray more, read the Bible more, go to church more, resist temptation more, etc., etc.  Now don’t get me wrong, none of these things are wrong things to do.  More Bible reading, prayer, church attendance and less sinning are all very good things.  But this is not the starting point for successfully following Christ with the type of abandon and passion to which He calls us.  Francis Chan points out that focusing on “trying harder” is self-centered…it is a focus on us…it brings glory to us.  That’s a wrong approach, for sure. Continue Reading…

Today’s post is going to be a little different.  It has to do with community…and our perspective, for sure.  But it is the world community that will take center stage in what I am sharing today.

Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the great need of humanity.  I’m a Christ Follower…that means I have a specific faith perspective on things that takes the immediate need of people into account and places that into the infinite context of eternity.  Not an easy thing to do, but nonetheless, necessary.  I watch programs and read stories about feeding hungry children, or stopping drug crimes…or I think about what it will require to change the downward spiral of our country in regards to the economy, morality and educating our children, and I feel that the need is too great to meet.  I can even become cynical at times because of the corruption of our politicians and the unbalanced approach to leadership.  However, I was challenged in my negative thinking about the potential to bring about change recently by two things:  I witnessed a group of around 43,000 college students raise over $2 million in four days to help stop human trafficking, and I watched a video today about stopping a madman from his 26-year murderous rampage in Uganda.

I know this will require a bit more of a time investment today than usual in reading my blog, but the 30 minutes you invest in watching the video below, I believe, will be worth it.  After you have watched it, I will share a few thoughts on the other side.

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Just as this butterfly morphed from larva to adult, so change is a natural part of life.

We all know it’s true…change is never easy.  For some of us, it is more difficult than for others.  I suppose it has a lot to do with personality and age.  The older we get, the more difficult change seems to be.  Also, certain personalities don’t adapt well to change and it can be a traumatic experience.

Of course, the precipitating circumstance that produces the change can have a lot to do with the ease or difficulty as well.  Loss of a spouse, an obviously painful event, makes the change much more difficult than, say, making the transition from one employment position to another.  However, there will always be a challenge of some degree when we go through transitions.  It’s a part of life.  We can expect it.  As a matter of fact, growth and maturity doesn’t come without it.  So change has its purpose.  Solomon expressed this in the following passage:

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You’ve probably experienced it when you were a kid.  If you played sports, or were in the band or drama group, or anything you did to perform or compete, you always wanted to know there were people in the stands rooting for you.  You probably would sneak a peek toward the audience or bleachers to see if your parent, family or friend was there, cheering for you or applauding.

I remember the first time I ran a marathon, when I finished I was excited and felt so good that I had completed such a challenge.  But, as it turned out, none of my family could be there to congratulate or watch me finish.  In a way, it was sort of an empty victory.  However, the next time I ran, both my wife and daughter were able to be there to cheer me on at the end and to congratulate me on my finish.  That accomplishment was so much more fulfilling.  Even along the race route, having complete strangers cheering for you to complete the race was a huge encouragement to run and to run well.

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A recent phenomenon took place that emphasizes the power of the gospel.  Anyone who knows anything about pro football and has followed college football at all, knows the name Tim Tebow.  He played for Florida where he distinguished himself as a star quarterback and then went to the pros, playing for the Denver Broncos.  In the January 8 wild card game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tebow through a pass for an 80-yard touchdown in overtime to win the game and stun the opponent.  The play-action fake, gave the opportunity for receiver Demaryius Thomas to make the run in for the score that won the game 29-23.  It was the shortest overtime in NFL history and the longest overtime touchdown in playoff history.

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