Here were are in the waning last days of the year. I don’t know about you, but I often evaluate the past year and anticipate the coming year as December winds down. Sometimes that is exciting and encouraging. Other times it is deflating and can feel a bit hopeless. If I’m honest, I feel a bit of both this year. …
Do You Trust God Enough To Rest?
Rest is offensive to our culture. As a matter of fact we even seem to parade our aversion to rest. Our most popular cities are touted as cities that ‘never sleep.’ We celebrate and market areas of ‘night life’. Our popular brands tell us to ‘just do it’ and to be ‘driven’. However, rest requires us to come to the …
God Broke My Heart
Faith is messy. Religion tries to convince us that everything can fit on some sort of ‘holy spreadsheet’ and that the math is pretty straight-forward. The logic goes like this: if you pray enough, or serve enough, then you climb the rungs of ‘prayers that can now be answered.’ As you ascend higher and higher, your elite status is confirmed …
Don’t Be A Slave In The Promised Land
My heart is full. In the past week I have spent time with my dear friends, Jean & Giuliana Gadotti in Brazil, speaking at their church, O Refugio. I returned home and was invited to speak at my home church in NC, The Refuge. Then I was invited to play a song with Big Daddy Weave at their concert last …
Your Identity Is Not A Moving Target
You may recall the classic cartoon of a character firing arrows at the side of a barn and then drawing a target around where the arrow had struck. Wasn’t it amazing that he hit the bulls-eye every time?! Obviously the cartoon was intended to make us laugh and show the exact opposite of what aiming at a target is all …
Wildflowers, Broken Dreams and Miracle Chairs
It’s Spring and the sound of the lawn mower seems to reverberate all day off the houses in the neighborhood. Everyone is coming out of hibernation and working in the flower beds and trying to put their best foot forward. There’s much to be said for intentional pruning and development. I believe it is key to living a life worth …