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Stuck in Saturday

Put yourself in the shoes of the disciples, Jesus’ closest friends.

He’s been saying all kinds of weird things about leaving, being denied, and rebuilding temples. All of the sudden, Jesus gets arrested, tried, and crucified. Now it’s Saturday and there is nothing but confusion, fear, and most likely a tinge of hopelessness in your heart and mind. The one you thought came to save you is dead and buried. The way they killed him over the course of a day with extreme prejudice makes you want to hide from the masses, so you mourn the death of your savior in private. Continue Reading…

In Mourning

I am no stranger to the loss of a loved one. My grandfather passed away when I was in junior high. One of my cousins was killed in a car accident when I was in college. My dad died two years ago from cancer. The professionals who have studied grief tend to say that there are five stages of grief, known as the Kübler-Ross model, that people go through: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. These five stages are sometimes simplified to Arthur Schopenhauer’s three stages of the learning process: Ridicule, Opposition, and Acceptance.

Many people believe that everyone who experiences a loss or traumatic event goes through these stages of grief. Some experience the stages faster or more intensely than others, but everyone goes through them. I don’t think that is entirely true. Looking at myself as an example, I was sad when my family members passed away, but I don’t remember going through denial, anger, bargaining, or depression. I think that’s why I have such a hard time knowing what to say to people who have lost someone they love. Continue Reading…

Ideas For Action

One of the things I like most about the results from the StrengthsFinder 2.0 test is “Ideas for Action” section. This section gives you specific things you can do with each of the five personalized leadership themes that the test reveals. You might already be taking some of the action steps, and some of them might seem beyond your power at first, but you have to remember that they are suggestions based on your strengths. I think it’s important to at least pick a couple to work on at first, and I’d like to share a few of the action steps that I plan to work on from the results of my most recent test. Continue Reading…

StrengthsFinder 2.0

In December of 2008, I took the StrengthsFinder 1.0 Test along with the rest of the worship and production team at my church. As a part of the emerging leaders group, I took the StrengthsFinder 2.0 test today. It is interesting to see what has changed over the past three years and how much more accurate it seems now.

Find out how you too can take the StrengthsFinder 2.0 test!

Continue Reading…

International Home

Sometime late last year, I learned about an opportunity for families to host international students for the school that my children attend. A little more than a month ago, we were asked if we would be willing to host a tenth grade boy from South Korea who needed a different living situation than the one he was in. After a brief discussion and a week of cleaning up the house and getting his room ready, Jungjoon Lee moved into our house.

Let me just say that the experience so far has been awesome. It’s been a bit of a preview into what it will be like to have teenagers in the house, and it’s been a fun learning experience for all of us. It’s been great to have Joon around, and he’s already become like a big brother to my kids. Continue Reading…

Still Working On It

So my plan has been to wake up early to spend 30 minutes in Scripture, devotions, journaling, and prayer. It has been two days and I still have not been able to get myself out of bed early. I’ve still accomplished my 30 minute goal later in the day on both occasions, but I am getting frustrated with my morning routine. I tried going to bed earlier, but I am such a snooze addict that it hasn’t helped. Maybe I should revisit the routine that I tried to start a while ago. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I would probably sleep all day if given the opportunity. Continue Reading…

Theme For The Year

I keep hearing people talking about their “word for the year”. It’s a lot like having a resolution, but more general. Some say they want to be more patient or productive. Some want to focus on worship while others want to be more obedient or disciplined. Although we’ve done this together as the staff of a church, I’ve never done it personally. Some of that probably has to do with my aversion to new years resolutions. I think my longest resolution lasted just over a month.

The more I thought about it this year, the more I felt like I could do a word for the coming year. A song that I haven’t heard in a while came on the radio yesterday morning and as I listened to it, I began to feel like it could be my theme song for the coming year. Continue Reading…

A New Chapter

Afraid of the Dark

Over the past few years, the idea of becoming a consultant or at least doing some consulting work has come up in conversations I’ve had with friends, coworkers, and even some of my bosses. Every time it had been nothing more than a fleeting thought for me, and I continued on with what I do, sometimes complaining about my vocational status along the way. It’s not that I didn’t think I had the knowledge to do it, I just didn’t know where to start. Beyond that, I was afraid. Nothing is scarier than venturing out into the unknown. Why do you think most kids are afraid of the dark? Continue Reading…

Thank You

thank you

Sometimes it’s hard for me to say thank you. I encourage my children to say thank you at every appropriate time, but I myself fail at it often. I’ve been getting better at this recently, but sometimes the little things that people do for me happen without recognition. To all of you whom I’ve failed to thank, I’m sorry.

While I sometimes forget to say thank you for little things, I would like to think that I don’t miss the big things. I was recently given a check to get my kids the things that they really wanted for Christmas. I was sure to thank that person a few times, and was probably on the verge of becoming annoying. Then there are times when gifts are given anonymously. There was a season when my family would receive anonymous gifts in the form of gift cards to the local grocery store quite often. The timing was almost always perfect in that season, and we were always grateful to God because we had no one else to thank. Continue Reading…

Patience

Patience

I remain confident of this
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 27:13-14 NIV

Am I being patient? I have not learned to wait on the LORD. I have an idea of what my general calling is, but am still trying to discern my specific calling. Any time I’ve had an idea of what my specific calling might be, I’ve chased after it instead of being still and waiting on God. I have a burning desire inside of me to do certain things in ministry, but when I try to quench those desire I tend to get stuck and fall back to where I was before. Continue Reading…

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