I’ll bet you’ve experienced it. The runup to the big event, the excitement, the rush as the day finally arrives, and then – it’s over. You stare at the aftermath as the adrenaline drains away and the cleanup crew sweeps the confetti and dumps the trash. What happens next? For followers of Jesus, that’s the […]
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Believing And Deciding
“We make decisions based on our beliefs.” Pastor Dick Foth spoke about the difficult choice Joseph made. His teenaged fiancé was pregnant, and he wasn’t the father. Mary told an unbelievable tale, then an angel showed up in a dream and said, “God did it.” Joseph could have broken the engagement. He could have had […]
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Back To Basics
“How are we gonna do Thanksgiving?” With all the disruptions and restrictions, in the midst of a pandemic, in a year characterized by turmoil and disruption, lots of us are wondering how we can possibly do Thanksgiving. 1863 was another year of turmoil and disruption in a nation ripped apart by civil war. I’m sure […]
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Are They Really Principles?
It’s easy to talk about lofty principles. It’s easy to follow those principles when following them leads to comfortable short-term outcomes. It’s easy to impose the difficult consequences of our principles on others. It’s hard to follow our principles consistently, regardless of circumstances, especially when the short-term outcomes might be disappointing or painful. But following […]
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Who Are We?
It was an interesting online conversation. A pretty well-known personality fielded questions about a published article. As always, comments ranged from helpful and educational to silly. This one caught my attention. “You’re not the smartest guy in the room, are you?” In the online world, a snarky remark isn’t all that unusual. It was the […]
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Four Years Later
Four years ago. Someone who’s in a leadership position in one of my circles publicly celebrated a difficult, divisive outcome. An outcome I knew would elicit fear and anguish in people I loved. An outcome I believed would bring real pain. If felt like he was laughing at those who wished for a different direction. […]
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What We CAN Do
Right now, all around us, folks are literally crying out for us to just stop talking and listen. Not argue or agree. Not discuss or fix. I think these folks are literally begging us to listen. A few times recently I’ve seen someone online doing what could generously be described as “venting.” Often there are […]
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About Lines
It seems lots of folks are drawing lines these days. Everywhere I look I see lines about US and THEM. Here’s the line: you’re either on my side, or the wrong side. Those who draw them are certain they’re absolute, true, and righteous, but in fact they’re mostly opinions transformed into hard-and-fast rules, unnecessary false […]
Continue readingWhat If There’s Not A Reason?
Do you believe everything happens for a reason? I don’t–at least not in the way a lot of folks make that sort of claim. It’s a question that comes up often when I tell my story. I wrote these thoughts three years ago during our TAOS TO TUCSON Ride. Perhaps they’re appropriate in today’s somewhat chaotic, unpredictable […]
Continue readingWhat’s God’s Idea Of Big?
“I hope you’ll dream God-sized dreams.” I said that to the men I spoke to yesterday. I’m convinced it’s God’s desire for each of us. I believe He wants each of us to write a remarkable story with our lives…but we need to be clear about what remarkable means in Kingdom terms. A guy came […]
Continue readingWhat You Can Learn From A Finish Line
Riding an organized race isn’t normally part of the RICH’S RIDE mission. When we committed to El Tour de Tucson I didn’t think about competition. As I sat at the start line I realized many of the folks around me wanted to complete the ride as fast as possible. That notion hadn’t occurred to me. […]
Continue readingHow Will You Finish Your Story?
“Your experiences are an opportunity to write a great story.” I conclude many of my talks with that sentence. I think it prompts a lot of questions. What, exactly, does that mean? Write…where? A story about…what? Think of your life as a book. The major episodes and seasons are the chapters. So your life experiences, […]
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