We live in a dog eat dog kind of world. Every moment is about trying to get ahead in life. We need to be better than everyone else in class or in the office. We need to be the best on the team and the number one in the league. We need to even be better than we were yesterday for crying out loud! Nothing is ever good enough. But ever happened to humility? This week we talked about humbling ourselves versus being humbled by someone else.
Continue readingTag: disciple (Page 21 of 30)
I was never a science type growing up. I mean I used a magnifying glass from time to time but not to look at molecules and see them up close but to concentrate the heat from the sun and burn leaves and yes even the occasional ant or spider. But this isn’t about burning bugs, today we’re going to look at the way we look at problems in our lives. Do we look at our problems through a magnifying glass or a telescope?
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What’s your focus these days? Are you the half empty glass kind of person? Or perhaps you’re the eternal optimist? I tend to be a bit of a realist, and admittedly slide into pessimism from time to time. But there are some who always seem to see the sunshine even in the midst of a cloudy and rainy day. And if I’m being totally honest, sometimes that simply drives me nuts! I’m not sure I know how to find the sunrise in the dark of night. I’m not always able to see the rainbow that hasn’t quite shown up because the storm’s too rough. Continue reading
There are so many things in life that we want to change. We change our hair color. We change the paint in our living rooms. We change our cars when we get tired of driving the one we have. We change churches when the pastor says something that challenges us. We change our clothes. We change our jobs. We change friend circles as our life stages change. But sometimes we want bigger changes. Continue reading
Growing up I was taught that the Devil was a scary creature with horns on his head, a pitch fork in his hand and a long spiky tail. I was taught that he looked like a monster that was out to scare us. I knew that if I saw him, I could just run away and hide because honestly who wears a red suit and always yells and screams at everyone? Continue reading
Recently a friend asked me what my favorite bible verse was. Now that admittedly is a difficult task, especially for a pastor. We have so many bible verses floating through our minds. So many of them with significant meaning. I mulled this over for weeks. Probably longer. But eventually it hit me. The one verse that just jumped off the page was right there the entire time. It was a verse that had meaning to my uncle who was a pastor. It was a verse spoken at his funeral. It’s a verse in one of my favorite hymns. Continue reading
Loneliness sucks. There’s no easy way to put it. We sometimes will sit in our homes, or in our dorms, or in our cubicle at work and realize that we’re alone. And sometimes that loneliness pushes beyond the moments when we’re physically without company to the times when we’re with others but still feel disconnected. Continue reading
Confession time: I’m a control freak. And not just a minor version of this either. I’m a Type-A control freak. Being a control freak doesn’t mean that I’m always in control or that it even has to be all my way. It just means that I have a tendency to look at the outcomes of a situation before they happen. I work diligently to anticipate problems and create solutions before they become problems. Continue reading
While out to dinner not too long ago, I noticed how the people at the table asked to have their food cooked. Some like their steak well done, almost like a hockey puck. Others prefer to cook just long enough to make sure it’s no longer alive. Then there are those who like to have theirs cooked with just enough pink remaining that the juices fill your mouth when you eat it. We don’t get upset when someone wants a medium rare steak. We could care less if someone wants theirs dry and tough. Continue reading
Have you ever been struck with the funny, almost scary feeling that life is just way out of focus? I mean like you’re just going through the motions or that you’re having a hard time finding where you are in this big thing we call life? In a few recent conversations with several people, it sounds like I’m not the only one who has struggled with this! Wow is that ever refreshing! Continue reading