If you’re paying attention, you might have wondered where I wandered off to. No blog posts in nearly a month. No shared resources on my Author page. Even the Question of the Day and Evening Quote disappeared for a few days. A friend asked me if I’d resigned from Facebook. What’s been going on? Well, […]
Stop treating spiritual growth like a lottery!
Some treat spiritual growth like the lottery. They pay their ticket price in church attendance and tithing, and cross their fingers hoping that one of these days the Holy Spirit will draw their number. Life change will pour down on them, washing away their struggles and weakness. They’ll be left with a whole new life, […]
The old walk won’t take you new places.
The classic definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. We see this craziness all around us. There are companies going bankrupt because they can’t adapt their business model to a faster, more connected world. Working with kids I would regularly hear from parents frustrated with their children’s behavior […]
100 Reasons You Should Not Go to Church & One Reason You Should.
Would you take motorcycle classes and then never ride? Would you learn to play an instrument, but then never make music? Or learn to cook but never do it? It sounds absurd, yet this is exactly the situation in the lives of many Christians. This strange situation is actually built into the programs of many […]
Maybe you shouldn’t speak the truth in love.
It’s happening right now. Somewhere a Christian is talking to another person. Something’s wrong and the Christian feels that right now–in this moment–they have to say something. I know this is happening right now, because it happens all the time. And not just from Christians. This is something that humans do with vigor. Some call […]
Why wouldn’t you pray?
I recently took an online course. The teacher is someone I look up to and have learned a lot from. The lessons were a combination of reading, watching video, doing exercises at home and sharing with other students in a forum. This works well for me. I can structure my time, do the work at […]
The overlooked key to spiritual growth
Learning to ride a motorcycle taught me about the commonly overlooked key to spiritual growth. In Oregon now you can no longer just go to the DMV, take a test and be on your way. Now you have to take the Team Oregon Basic Rider Training course. (I learned a lot about myself in the […]
Let Go. Then Let Go Again.
The new apprentice blacksmith was excited. He’d found a master blacksmith to learn from. The master had willingly taken him on as a student. He’d begun to assemble his tools and started showing up every morning at first light when the master started working. That’s when things fell apart. The master blacksmith had asked him […]
“This is what I was made for.” How often can you say that?
I was winding through the curves on some unfamiliar road thirty miles into the country. 10,000 Reasons played in the earbuds tucked inside my helmet. I rolled on the throttle of my Vulcan 800 Classic around a corner into a view that stopped my breath. Dense, pine-covered hills with periodic burst of turning leaves rose to […]
Learn from Jesus. Live in the Gospels.
A good ol’ boy and his 5-year old son were out fishing early one morning. As usual the boy couldn’t be quiet. He was full of questions. “Hey dad, how come the dragon flies hover like that?” To which dad replied, “Don’t rightly know, son.” A minute later, “Hey dad, how come the water’s blue […]
Have you decided to learn from Jesus?
I’ve been a guitar player for 21 years. In that time I’ve hung around more musicians than I can remember. One particular type of guitarist was surprisingly common. They had a guitar, maybe two. They noodled around from time to time. They knew a handful of chords. Every now and then they’d get a group […]
The 7 Commitments of an Apprentice of Jesus
Have you ever learned from a master? Maybe you took music lessons from a maestro or someone great in your field mentored you. When you learn from a real master, you learn information, but there’s more to it, isn’t there? You also learn a host of indefinable things – attitude, posture, vocabulary. You see who […]
Jesus calls us to be what?
God has a plan for your life, but it might not be what you think. God’s plan for you is not that you’d be real good. It’s not that you’d join a certain religious club. It’s not that you’d travel to Burundi to be a missionary, or go to a certain college, or marry that […]
I believe in Grace but is effort legalistic?
Am I sounding legalistic yet? If you grew up in the church, this post is probably important for you. If you didn’t, you might skip this one. In the past two posts I challenged a common perspective. Following Jesus is not just about believing. It’s actually something you do. Maybe following Jesus isn’t just about […]
Following Jesus: It’s Something You DO.
Something was different about those first followers of Jesus. They didn’t have slick advertising campaigns, Christian concerts and famous speakers. They didn’t have brochures or tracts. They didn’t have beautiful buildings with big signs out front. Yet, somehow, they managed to make an unprecedented mark on the world. Instead of doing marketing, they lived their […]