Balance
The conversations about time management seem to come up pretty often, especially during the holiday season. One young business leader said to me last week, “I have no idea how I am going to get everything done!” We reflected on the following verses as we allowed the...
Choices
Several years ago, I taught a series in Rick Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Life with some of the men at our church. It is a challenging study that forces us to consider the "big" questions about our existence like, "Why are we here?" and "What will we do today...
True Comm-unity
Unity. It is a thing which people speak of like world peace--something that would be nice to have, but naive to imagine we will ever achieve it. After several years of highly inflammatory public discourse, it seems like in many ways we are more divided as a country...
Not Forgotten, Not Alone
Loneliness . Isolation. Feeling like no one cares. Hopelessness or discouragement. How often have we felt that way? You read about it in the Psalms. Many of the Old Testament prophets write about these feelings. We are not alone in dealing with these issues. I just...
Living a Life of Gratitude – Colossians 3:15-17
It is November 1, 2018. As the calendar year of 2018 continues to speed by, we now find ourselves in the month that we have a major holiday that we call Thanksgiving. On November 22nd, people will gather together around a big meal with family and friends to celebrate...
Busy!
When we ask a friend, “How are you guys doing?” The typical answer is: “Busy!! We are just busy right now!!” Or…the answer might be: “We are simply in a busy season of life!” For all of us—life is busy! We are busy…and while the “seasons” of life change-- the...
A Good Return on Investment
Risk is an important business concept. We are taught that in general as risk increases in investment, so does the possibility for reward. There are investments that offer a guaranteed result, like bonds. The payoff is typically pretty small. You sacrifice potential...
Giving Thanks
I’ve been meditating on Psalm 92, a song for the Sabbath. It is a wonderful psalm of corporate worship and praise. Allow me to share a few thoughts with you. The first sentence says, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord to sing praises… to declare your steadfast...
Imitating Christ
My granddaughter is almost 17 months old and as you can imagine, I love to spend time with her. We play together with two of her favorites, plastic eggs and books. She loves for me to chase her around the room. She loves to sit in my lap and wave at people. She’s the...
The Battle for Men’s Souls
Several years ago I attended a men's discipleship training conference with Patrick Morley in Orlando; the first session was entitled, The Battle for Men's Souls. We were presented with some sobering statistics related to men--both inside and outside of the church...
Character is Revealed in Crisis – But Develops Quietly
Character is of great value. Organizations want to harness the efforts of employees that have integrity and determination and trustworthiness. Society hinges upon people agreeing to do what is right. Most people would say they desire to have excellent character. But...
Reflections
Have you ever just looked back over your life to reflect on what God has done? I’m sure you have. I began again to recount my life this past Labor Day weekend. I thought about a shy skinny kid going into eighth grade, which was high school in Georgia. It was a scary...
Finding Tranquility Through Prayer
I have spent a lot of time recently thinking about how busy we are as a culture. I spend a lot of my time around extremely busy people that are so frustrated by their busyness. It seems like the majority of conversations that I have with men in our ministry are all...
Where’s our joy?
We recently began teaching a new Sunday school series in 1 John. In the introduction of the book, John explains to his readers that fellowship (communion) with Christ produces joy; he instructs them that their joy would also overflow back to him as his joy. Eugene...
Doing the Impossible: Joseph of Arimathea – The Secret of A Camel who Passed Through the Eye of a Needle
“How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is...
Waiting
Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.” Wait. This is a word that is not appreciated in our time. If we have to wait more than 30 seconds for a computer to reboot we get impatient. If we can’t answer a text...