A few weeks ago, my wife sent me this photo. I immediately began laughing because I could sympathize with it’s owner. The photo is of a fake tree. Now why would someone in a fairly decent neighborhood go to the trouble to buy or build a fake tree? It is quite simple. H.O.A. You…
Bible Hacking: 3 Keys to Unlock God’s Word.
Every discipline or field has “foundational principles”. If you discover the foundational principles, you can quickly become functional, or possibly above average, simply by focusing on the foundational principles. For example, self defense has some major foundational principles. One is self awareness. Simply being aware of the people and situations around you make you much…
Gas Station Ready
A friend of mine recently was involved in an altercation at a local gas station. An inebriated man approached my friend and accused him staring. As the man angrily approached and prepared to attack, my friend quickly responded by taking him to the ground and quickly moving to a position called the mount. My friend…
THE RIGHT TO NO OPINION
“You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can’t control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone.”-Marcus Aurelius (Roman Emperor, 170 A.D.) YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT! We’ve all…
Why we believe in the Church.
We Believe in the Church. It matters what we believe about the church. The church is the most important solution the world has access to. As followers of Jesus, we MUST understand its potential of the local church, the power of healthy church, and priority of living like God’s people. If we get these three…
Happy Advice: Remember to Die
“Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day. … The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time.” Seneca As the last year seems to be a defining year for…
How to change your life- the crazy train method.
When I was seventeen years old, I went to Zoo Music and asked the long haired guy behind the counter if he would teach me to play the guitar. They didn’t officially offer guitar lessons, but he said yes anyway. In my mind, I thought 17 years old was too late to start playing an…
How to discern a call from God (sermon supplement)
Here are some helpful thoughts and ideas that will hopefully help your understanding as we look at the life of Paul on April 8, 2018 and allow me to keep my messages focused on applicable content and shorter:-) 1. Timeline of Paul’s conversion. (Source: Paul the apostle by Robert E. Picirilli, pg. 52) 33/34 AD…
God makes trees, not tables.
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.- John 1:3 I heard TD Jakes make this statement the other day and it made me smile. I love the fact that God allows you and I to use creativity, even though we cannot truly create anything. Everything…
This is church
In Bill Hybel’s great book, “Axiom”, he wrote a chapter called “This is church”. In that chapter, Hybels describes how there is the jobs or tasks that a pastor does, but the defining moments are the interruptions- the husband who needs marital counseling, the mourning mother, or the child who asks a simple question about…
The Wooly Mammoth is back
In an effort to become a better writer and to process some of my current thoughts on the Christian life, I thought I’d start writing here again. My main goal will be to write something interesting on each post. Today I thought I’d write about a book I just checked out at the library. It…
Thoughts from a serial fundraiser: When is it ok to ask for money?
The first time I ever stood in front of a group or an individual and asked for money, I felt ashamed. I felt as if I was begging someone to do something they shouldn’t have to do. I felt like a panhandler. In 2006, I asked my family and friends to give so that I…
Why are you not happy today?
Everyday I meet people that seemed overwhelmed by problems in life. I talk with people that feel trapped by decisions that they’ve made, yet they feel powerless to make new decisions. So my thoughts this morning focus on how blessed we really are in this life. Here is a quote that captures my mood this…
I’m a bad dad. (A short example of why I need grace)
This morning I woke up my kids to get them ready for school. After sending the first two off, I headed home to wake up my teenager. He’s notoriously hard to rouse in the morning. After repeated attempts to get him out of the sack, I told him, “The next time I come in here,…
When Did Six Flags get rid of that Ride?
Last year, my family had season passes to six flags. Each time I would go, I would think about a different ride that I remembered or had heard about. I always felt as if those rides had only recently been removed. So, I did some random research out of curiosity to find out when my…
My wife can preach!
This past Sunday, my wife helped me preach. We talked about how men and women are called to love each other in marriage and focused on the key to everything: forgiveness. She brought a very valuable woman’s perspective. If you want to check it out, CLICK HERE! She did a great job and will…
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