But maybe being thoughtful is what I am missing In my notes for the Love Dare that I wrote years ago, I mentioned that being thoughtful for Jess is actually quite easy. I’ll even bet that at times, I annoy Jess with my over concern about how she is feeling. I mean seriously, I ask her everything from is her coffee hot enough to are the kids annoying her? But you know what I don’t do? I don’t ask myself the same questions. The book says, “Great marriages come from great thinking.” If that is true, then a great ...
How well should we know our family tree Born on Friday, in church on Sunday. That pretty much sums up my church history. So basically my entire life, I have the opportunity to read the first 17 verses of Matthew, but I never understood the importance of listing Jesus’ genealogy. Sure, for the Biblical skeptics, having the family tree of Jesus helps understand the historical significance of his bloodline, but what is its significance to me? A great-uncle of mine once researched how the Biles side of my family tree grew. He spent decades of exhausting research to put ...
What if I don’t think I deserve Kindness Yesterday I almost made it out without saying anything mean to myself, but today I add kindness on top of my new challenge of loving myself. This chapter says that kindness is not reactive, but proactive. Further it says we can use Initiative, gentleness, helpfulness, and willingness as the core ingredients. The way I see it is if I want to be more kind to myself then I must take proactive steps instead of waiting on others to be kind to me; I must treat myself with softness; I must anticipate ...
What does being selfish look like? A selfish character and my character are not closely related. As a matter of fact, a selfish character is the worst word to describe me. Okay, that last statement sounded a little conceited, but honestly it is pretty close to the truth; or is it? In this chapter of The Love Dare, by Stephen and Alex Kendrick, it not only says that we all struggle with selfishness, but that the basis of selfishness is when we make decisions out of love for ourself OVER love for others. Growing up in the church, I ...
This morning in a weekly men’s Bible-study zoom, I made a potentially embarrassing revelation. Two days ago, I downloaded Pokemon Go. I know, a little late to the game, but surprisingly it is still very popular. Truth be told, on July 8, 2016, I downloaded the game to see what all the hype was about. It lasted about a week before I deleted the app. A surprise came with my pokemon experience So the question I feel I need to answer is why would a 42-year-old writer and entrepreneur download a game designed to grab your attention and never ...
A thin plate of glass stands before me protecting me from the elements. The happiness creeps in as I watch the peculiarities of the ducks and chickens outside my window. For a moment, my tears subside. Falling out of my daze and coming back to reality, the happiness fades and the tears begin to well up again. I know people in this world suffer more than I on a daily basis, but that doesn’t change the desire for and lack of joy in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I have bouts of happiness as we journey on, but ...
Now it is time to really get into the meat of this book. In chapter 3 of Start With Why by Simon Sinek, we start to learn on why we need to focus on why. As a father, one of my measures of success is in the actions my children take as they grow older. In the image, you see Emily reading the Bible. We have never, and maybe we should, outright told her that reading the Bible was a good way for her to become a better woman of God. What we have done, however, is lead by ...
Everyone on social media wants to go viral. But I wander if everyone really had the megaphones they wanted, would they really want their message heard? Even as I write this post, I wander if I had a large impact, would I be secure enough in my message that I want the world to hear it? In short, I ask myself that daily. After that fear tries to creep in, I remember that the message I am trying to yell at the rooftop is not my message, but a message given to me to pass on to you. I ...
It didn’t take long for the author of Hebrews to know that we are fragile creatures and we need our rest just like any other. Although, the chapter doesn’t just speak of our need for rest, but also to understand the power and responsibility we have after we get our rest. The first 11 of 16 verses in Hebrews chapter 4, encourages us to not feel weak because we need rest. As a matter of fact, the chapter encourages us to find time to take it easy during the continuous spiritual warfare that we are a part of. The ...
It has been a while since I talked about why I left Corporate America to pursue a passion I once thought was lost. Uprising challenges tell me to share again. This weekend we experienced disappointing parental problems, struggles with a healthy diet, broken expensive equipment, smoking vehicles, mice at play, haunting nightmares, broken sewage lines, a dead chicken, a thieving dog, a lightening strike, a power outage, faulty water pump, piling chores, cold weather, and a threat from the past. Yes, that was all in two days. In the mean time, I hear this voice in my head, “If ...