If you have no heart to change it, you have no right to criticize it. Mark Twain I recently declined a friend’s request for “constructive criticism.” He seemed a little confused when I offered to provide feedback instead. Dreamers need lots of feedback, but they need to learn how to tune out the inevitable critics. […]
Continue readingAuthor: Rich
Why Are We Standing Around?
Sometimes an event in the bible just makes me laugh. In the first chapter of Acts, Jesus gives His friends some final instructions before He leaves in a remarkable manner. After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into […]
Continue readingThings We Didn’t Try
Occasionally a question hits the sweet spot in a particular group. “What do you think you’ll regret more in ten years–your failures or the things you didn’t try?” Man, you could have heard a pin drop in the room across the hallway, that’s how silent it got. You could see the wheels turning for a […]
Continue readingConservative
HAPPY MONDAY! A surprising statement leads me to today’s word-of-the-week… CONSERVATIVE “I always thought Jesus was really conservative.” “Really?” “Yeah. Not politically, but just, you know, quiet and sort of down-the-middle.” “Interesting. Where’d you get that idea?” “I guess from church. That’s pretty much how church was when I was a kid, so I just figured […]
Continue readingAll Those Times We Try To Be God
You and I would never try to take God’s place, right? Except I’ve noticed I do it a lot, and I suspect I’m not alone. It’s not on purpose–I don’t have a throne in my back yard or anything like that. It happened most recently when a friend got in some trouble and I wanted […]
Continue readingWhere Do You Begin A Big Dream?
Our FREEDOM TOUR team is discussing a big dream for 2016. Can we raise enough money to cover the entire budget for all of the kids at Project Rescue’s HOME OF HOPE? Can a project that’s raised about $65,000 in 3 years jump to $100,000 in a single year? Every time I consider an outrageous goal I’m reminded of a […]
Continue readingSeries
HAPPY MONDAY! A frustrating truth prompts today’s word-of-the-week… SERIES The important matters in life are a series of repeated choices. We don’t choose to love someone and then forget it. We must repeat the choice over and over, because loving is difficult, we change, and people change. We may forgive a horrible wrong, but we’ll likely need to forgive […]
Continue readingWhy Should We Prime The Pump?
My friend Jim likes to sing on long bike rides. Jim knows one verse of about a million songs. We’ll be cranking along and he’ll just start singing in his rich, baritone voice, the sort of voice that imprints a chorus on your brain so it pops up weeks later when you’re riding alone and […]
Continue readingAre You Running Aimlessly?
My friend Jon Swanson is on a 98-days-in-a-row running streak. A streak like that causes you to do crazy things like run in the dark or the rain. But Jon doesn’t run for streaks. He’s training for a bigger purpose. I encourage you to follow his blog–you’ll learn a lot about bigger purposes, and perhaps […]
Continue readingExpected
HAPPY MONDAY! A weekend message brings us today’s word-of-the-week… EXPECTED That’s Not What I Expected Interesting sermon title, huh? The pastor used an incident from David’s life to illustrate how life with God frequently takes unexpected turns. Good point. If you’re anything like me, you can look back and see lots of things that turned out […]
Continue readingIf Only We Could Trust
There are lots of gaps between what we know and what we believe. We know outcomes don’t depend on the size of our efforts. We know God asks us to do what we can, where we are, with what we have and then trust Him for the results. We know, but do we believe? Do […]
Continue readingWhere Did They (We) Go Wrong?
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. (Matthew 22:15) It’s not an isolated incident. Religious leaders were always seeking opportunities to twist Jesus’ words, catch Him breaking a rule–anything to discredit Him and diminish His increasing influence among the people. We’ve read the stories so often, maybe we […]
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