Practice produces Progress
Oct04

Practice produces Progress

On our first try, should could barely get the arrows set on the string and they were flying all around the target and up into the trees. But after our third attempt at the range, she was landing those arrows into the target every time. Whap!
Progress!
Spiritual growth – progress forward as a Jesus-follower – doesn’t happen by a passive drip-process of reverse osmosis…

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Dear Younger Me
Sep13

Dear Younger Me

Dear Younger Me,
Life is hard but one day things are going to be okay…
You will realize that grace wins and legalism loses; that nothing you can do will make Jesus love you more or less than He did when you came to Him for salvation at 7-years-old. You will wish you had known this much sooner in life, but grateful it happened at all!
You will . . .

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I’m Blessed With Iron
Aug30

I’m Blessed With Iron

Today, I’m reminded of two men much wiser and further down the trail of life, who’ve taken time to invest in me. One up close. The other far away. They’ve asked me heart-level questions and remarkably remembered specific details about my life and ministry. The one nearby knows me much better than the other. But they both have deeply impacted my heart and mindset about pastoral ministry.  . .

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Living “The Good Life”
Jun21

Living “The Good Life”

“I’m living ‘the good life’!” someone remarked to me several months ago.
With a big smile, they proceeded to share with me how they were reveling in a windfall of financial freedom, extra time, good health, and frequent vacations. I was genuinely happy for them. Enjoying life isn’t bad. I’m not ready to hit people on the head with a Puritanical mallet, nor is God a cosmic kill-joy. . . .

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Touching the Line
May24

Touching the Line

Stop in your tracks. 
Remember you’ve tasted grace…a life worth more than this. 
Cheap, broken God-replacements don’t work and cannot satisfy. So slay lust before it is consummated. Don’t allow nascent sin-thoughts to conceive and give birth to death in your soul. . . .

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The Weight of the World
Apr12

The Weight of the World

What weights are pressing down on your heart this week? Do you have specific concerns that frequently cycle through your mind? Two diagnostic questions I often ask myself and those I counsel are: What’s the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning and what’s the last thing on your mind just before you go to sleep?

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