Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category
After His resurrection, Jesus appeared on the shore of the lake where His disciples were fishing. He called out to them after an all-night bust and told them to fish for a few minutes on the other side of the boat. It worked! Not until that moment did they know […]
Read More...I was looking for a safety pin tonight and asked my wife where I could find one. As one of my options, she directed me to our travel bag of toiletries. I found a good sized box of safety pins in our overstuffed travel bag. And I wondered what those […]
Read More...There is a huge difference between a critical spirit and critical thinking. A critical spirit will destroy you and others. It manifests in the kind of person who is petty, judgmental, and often bitter. It wants to tear other people down, regardless of their motivation. A person who is overly […]
Read More...“The Philistines had mustered for battle at Lehi, where there was a field full of lentils. Israel fled before the Philistines, but Shammah took his stand at the center of the field, successfully defended it, and routed the Philistines. Another great victory for God!” (2 Samuel 23:11-12 The Message) I used […]
Read More...2nd Annual Tech Break This is the second year of what I think will become a yearly habit: Personal vacation time also means vacation from a majority of my technology. Once again, since 3 weeks in July is vacation, I’m declaring all of July “freedom from internet-addiction month.” That means […]
Read More...Last week I took my family to see the movie Toy Story 3. The kids (9, 7 and 3) loved it! My wife loved it, and it made her cry. I loved it and was grateful for the long credit sequence after the movie which gave me time to pull […]
Read More...As I work with college students, one of the recurring issues I tend to deal with is initiative. As much as I may love an individual, I’ve discovered I can’t do much to develop a young adult who has little or no initiative. I’m just not built to be a […]
Read More...Last week I wrote some thoughts about a respected Pastor, Tom Ferguson, who went to be with the Lord. Yesterday John Wooden, arguably the greatest college basketball coach of all time, died. I never had the opportunity to meet him, but as someone who wants to be a good ‘leader-coach’ and […]
Read More...I remember first meeting Tom Ferguson when I was 28 years old and getting ready to plant a church in Seattle. He was to be my District Supervisor, and we were getting to know one another since I was coming from out of the area. After talking and praying with […]
Read More...So, for the last few years I’ve been following the TV show LOST. I’m not a pastor who uses his favorite shows as the foundations for sermons—I think the Bible is the best place to start there—but I don’t mind posting a few thoughts about it in a personal blog. […]
Read More...Are you intentionally looking for people who will speak challenging truth into your life? This is one of the most effective ways to grow: Cultivate real relationships with people you trust who will tell it to you the way it is. We need those who will say, “you really blew […]
Read More...The other day I had an honest conversation with a dear friend of mine. It was good—I was challenged in just the right places to think through some of my assumptions. I left without taking any offence whatsoever; if anything, I was encouraged to grow to be a better leader. […]
Read More...The story found in the first few chapters of 1 Samuel both encourages me and makes me ill every time I read it. I’m encouraged because what happens to young Samuel has many parallels to my hopes and prayers for my own kids: I pray that my children would “grow […]
Read More...Are you excited? I mean, like when-you-were-a-kid-and-you-knew-you-were-going-to-Disneyland-the-next-day excited? About 2,000 years ago Jesus’ disciples were not excited. They were sad. Really sad. They were sitting in a house together with the doors locked wondering what had just happened. But we have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. Tomorrow morning, Jesus is […]
Read More...Seeing the commercials for the ‘return of Jay Leno’ over the last couple of weeks has made me think… Five years ago, NBC announced that half a decade later Conan would sit in Jay’s chair hosting the legacy Tonight Show. At the time I was impressed. Here was a network […]
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