Starting this week, you’ll find some fatherly advice each Friday. Not fatherly in the sense that I’m acting as your dad, but some simple thoughts from a dad who’s learning as he’s living it. By no means do I know it all. As a matter of fact, I find myself messing up more frequently than I get it right. Continue reading
Category: Catalyst (Page 34 of 35)
A catalyst is one that sparks something. The catalyst speaks from experience and enables others to move forward more freely. These articles are written to act as a catalyst in your life.
Sticks and stone will break my bonesbut words will never hurt me. We’ve undoubtedly said it as a child. Maybe we even believed it. But I’m not convinced it’s all that true. I recently read an article that stated words are never neutral. How powerful a statement that one is! A lot of times we tend to think that just because we aren’t speaking something derogatory or overtly harmful that our words carry little to no weight at all. But the truth of the matter is our words are always filled with power. Continue reading
Admittedly, I’ve never served our country in any military capacity but I have a huge spot in my heart for the men and women who have. I know there are countless thousands of moms, dads, husbands, wives, sons and daughters who have devoted their lives to keeping me free. And I want to say thank you! Continue reading
This coming Sunday, October 26th, many churches of several different traditions will all celebrate something called the Reformation. But what is the Reformation? And what was it all about? In a single word, the Reformation was about basics. 
I
love to work off site. After all, who comes to a church during the day on a weekday? If you’re scratching your head for an answer, it’s no one. And I have to be honest, I’m an extrovert and really need to be around people. One of my favorite off-site locations has to be Panera Bread. I used to fill up on the carbs but not so much anymore. I go more for the atmosphere. Let me explain. Continue reading
There are basically two types of people in the world. When it comes to our dealings with one another we are one of two things. The first is a filler while the other is a spiller. We either fill one another or spill one another out. Which are you?
Most likely we’re not one of these all of the time, but more realistically we bounce back and forth. Let’s take a closer look at each of those so we know what to look out for in our lives. Continue reading
Want to know what works? It’s easy to sit back to be an armchair quarterback and have no skin in the game. But the real work happens when you put into action all the things you’ve been thinking and talking about.
I recently picked up a book written by a young lady who was trapped in a bad situation. Her young years were horrific. Then she began to believe that’s all she was worthy of receiving was horrible things. Her name is Polly, and she has an amazing story to tell. I’m not an emotional guy but I was emotionally wrecked as I turned through the pages of her book Cherished: Shattered innocence. Restored Hope. Continue reading
You can probably tell that one of my passions is reaching people who are disconnected from Jesus and connecting them to his love. You probably can also see that there is a bit of a frustration at times, and disappointment too, that the local church has quite frankly failed in its attempts to reach the world that is right in its own
backyard. If you sense this, you are absolutely right. But I also love the church dearly and believe that the church is the tool that God has established to bring his forgiveness and truth into the world today.
Ever heard of the Choluteca Bridge? The Choluteca Bridge is in Honduras. When it was built, it was an architectural marvel. It was designed by some of Japan’s top engineers. The design was important because the area was known for its hurricanes and massive rain storms. The bridge was massive! It was built to last forever, well nearly forever.
I remember growing up going to Sunday School. Most of the time as a child I really wanted to go, but even on the days I didn’t there was no question! Mom and Dad made sure I was there. One truth kept popping out week after week. The answer was always Jesus. It seemed that the questions always were structured in a way that led us to answer Jesus, with the occasional bible or God thrown in for good measure from time to time.
When did we get away from that? I don’t know when it was, but as I look back there seems to be a point where the answer is less & less Jesus and more & more tradition or how we do it. I can’t put my finger on when it happened, but I remember when I first realized it. Continue reading