How to Handle Your Slowest Hiker

How to Handle Your Slowest Hiker

It always happens this way. On a recent family trip to Glacier National Park, seven of us decided to go on a 11.3 mile hike to Grinnell Glacier. We all started together, but naturally, some people were faster than others. In short order, our group was strewn across a...
Does Accepting Mean Approving?

Does Accepting Mean Approving?

While traveling with one of my kids’ sports teams, I found myself in a room one night with several other guys shooting the breeze. One of the other dads began sharing sports stories, telling off color jokes and using some offensive language while drinking a few beers....
Got Needs?

Got Needs?

“And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 (NLT) Have you ever had to trust God to supply your need?   Years ago, my parents helped to put me through...
How God Chooses Leaders

How God Chooses Leaders

I knew her story, but I had no idea how God had used it. At age 17, Joni Erickson Tada dove in shallow water and didn’t come up. She survived near drowning only to discover the accident left her a quadriplegic for life. Her physical pain was immense, but her emotional...
Permission to Obsess

Permission to Obsess

What do you obsess about? Is it your grades, your performance review, your kids, the cleanliness of your car, or your favorite sports team? For years, the holy grail of self-help has been balance. “Avoid the extremes. Don’t overdo anything,” was the mantra. Good News...
What If Jesus Wanted to Buy Your Car?

What If Jesus Wanted to Buy Your Car?

The whole thing caught me off guard. We recently bought a “new to us” car. Rather than trade in our old car at the dealership, I decided to sell it on my own. I’ve done this a few times now and it’s always turned out well.   Per usual, after a deep clean and...
How to Pray When You’ve Never Heard From God

How to Pray When You’ve Never Heard From God

“I’ve never heard or felt anything when I pray. It’s like I’m talking to myself.” The words tumbled out in a recent conversation that suddenly felt like a confession. All my friend wants is a real relationship with God, one he can feel that involves a two-way...
Trusting in the Slow Work of God

Trusting in the Slow Work of God

Have you ever enjoyed waiting? Me neither. I think to myself, “I don’t have time for this. I have stuff to do!” My internal clock seems perpetually set to “hurry.” But I’ve noticed in more recent years that God doesn’t have that setting. God’s setting is far slower,...
For Those Who Over Do – Like Me

For Those Who Over Do – Like Me

Be. Be still. Be With. Be in. It was the counsel my spiritual director gave as I started a 5-day silent retreat a while back. After an excessively busy season provoked by unprecedented change, he could see God was calling me to stillness. “When we get more connected...
How to Be Free Indeed

How to Be Free Indeed

Something in every human heart yearns to be free. Deep down, we desire to unlock the door, break the shackles and walk unencumbered into a limitless future. We don’t want structures or organizations or authority figures to tell us what we can and can’t do. We want...