Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from 2014

Growth For The New Year

“Growth For The New Year” Matthew 12.33  Are you bearing fruit? 33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you,  on the day of judgment  people will give account for every careless word they speak , 37 for by your words you will be justified , and by your words you will be condemned .” I n a word, what is one thing you do to make something work better? One of my first jobs was roguing where you take a sharp tool with you as walk through a cornfield and cut out weeds or corn that has grown up 'rogue' and bunched together. Early in my college years, I detasseled corn for Pioneer Seed Corn in Iowa one summer. This helped t

Laws of Growth

15 Invaluable Laws of Growth I am committed to life-long learning and I hope you are too. Learning and growth does not end when you receive your university degree or obtain a particular position. Learning is crucial and critical to realize our leadership potential. You need to be intentionally engaged to grow in your leadership through continued learning.   Potential is a powerful word; it looks forward with optimism and is filled with hope. Potential has its promises and hints at greatness. To reach your potential you must grow. This book seeks to help you along that path--the pathway towards understanding how personal growth works and towards helping you become a more effective individual, parent, leader, and child of God! Which of these 'Laws that Govern Your Growth' fit you right now? Growth Doesn’t Just Happen You Must Know Yourself To Grow Yourself You Must See Value In Yourself To Add Value To Yourself Learning To Pause Allows Growth To Catch Up With You

Surprised By +Feedback...On My Kid

Ok, so I am a concerned parent. I do my job and at times put in some OT. I'd like to think I am balanced but mostly that is done just a front...but I do love my kids. Every now and then I get some +feedback on them. I'd like to think there is more out there. This time it came during the trip home from football practice (I volunteered to do it this time) and from one of the boys who tagged along. It made me smile. I never met this boy before and only heard bits and pieces about him prior (again, part of my job as a dad I do so well). As the 2 boys were discussing the upcoming season, positions, and one another, our guest starts 'bragging' on Josh. He said things I would probably never say, not because I don't believe them, but because I don't see this side of Josh. Now, I knew Josh came home from practice tired and hungry (two jobs HE does very well at age 15) and was lifting weights and I probably thought in my head, "Yes, what did you expe

Spiritual Sparring?

We Need More Christian Sparring. Does that sound a bit odd? Let me explain. There are two things in my son's two years of Tae Kwon Do I have continued to reflect upon: training by the level and sparring. My son has been in Tae Kwon Do for the past two years and has really enjoyed it and our Christian instructors. He has come up to his fifth gup and is now a green belt. As a youth pastor and educator, one of the things that made me smile was how the higher level kids were being asked to train the lower ones--and it's not so much an age thing. A girl my daughter's age (then 11) was asked to train my son (then, 7) and she did a fantastic job. I have always heard the adage: "The best way for you to know something is to teach it" (for me, it was Greek) and she really knew her stuff! The second thing that has continued to impress me just as much has been the sparring. It is absolutely necessary. It isn't enough to have kids stand in to throw a slow motion punch

Heavenly Light's Reversal Move

In the beginning God spoke and said, Let there be light and it was so. What was created was something we would train ourselves doesn't exist. This light God spoke just was and existed without a sun which hadn't been created yet but is now what we have trained ourselves to see is real. The first light lets call 'heavenly light' for it is from God's world and so continues to be. Once sin entered into our world the heavenly light, although still existing, shrunk from our sight and relegated itself to what we many times call the spiritual realm. This is understandable because sin brings darkness. But something else came with that darkness, another presence that found how to live and exist in it and develop authorities and seats of governance and powers.  Although the heavenly light still exists in this world we humans cannot see it for the matrix of darkness is keeping blinders on our eyes so we cannot see it. The truth is, ever since one man has come into this world th

Level The Playing Field

When John the Baptizer came onto the scene the Gospel writers stated he was fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah, Prepare the way of The Lord. How did John do this? By "leveling the playing field." The Jews' days were numbered and the time for the Temple to be no more was close at hand. Everything was about to change. The entire way of processing information from those who saw themselves 'above others' was going to be brought down--both in the spiritual and in the physical. John was preaching a "level gospel", The scribes, Pharisees and religious lawyers were going to be brought "down". The world as they knew it was about to flee! Jesus' life, death, and resurrection would cause everything to change, Nothing would ever be the same. It would be like not having a sun or a moon--or an authority who knew what to do. The 'constant things' would shift. And those who were poor and ignorant of the laws and righteousness would no

Magi or Religious Lawyer?

As I was reading the beginning of Matthew again I was struck by the contrast between the magi and the "people's chief priests and teachers of the law" (religious lawyers). Here are a couple of differences: 1. The Magi knew prophecy and followed the prophetic "star" of "the King of the Jews" 2. The Magi came from the East = far away to worship 3. The Magi to worship the King in Jerusalem or at least ask the leaders there where he was 4. The Magi went on to Bethlehem and completed their mission 1. The religious lawyers knew what was written in the prophets 2. The religious lawyers remained there in Jerusalem and did not go to Bethlehem 3. The religious lawyers must have seen the star but did not translate current events spiritually/prophetically 4. The religious lawyers stayed in Jerusalem and completed their mission What would have happened if: 1. The religious lawyers did more than just read the Scriptures to know it but to follow it? 2

Family Time Videos