Grow Your Relationship with God
There is a particular holiday treat at Starbucks this time of year, and it is a great way to get in 500 calories if that’s what you’re looking to do. The Pumpkin Scone provides nearly one-quarter of all your daily required calories in one fell swoop. Convenient, relatively cheap, and laden with sugary sweetness; not many would argue with that. One calorie isn’t the same as another however.
Continue reading “Forever Satisfying”
There is a famous poem by John Godfrey Saxe titled The Blind Men and the Elephant. Maybe you’ve heard of it. Six wise men, each blind, encounter an elephant. If not, give it a read, it’s really good. Each of the men experience a different part of the animal and end up disagreeing with one another as to what this creature actually looks like. None realize that each has experienced only a part of the entire picture.
I liken my own faith experience to this poem. When I became a Christian, I gravitated towards one particular “stream” of Christianity. The churches I attend, podcasts I listen to, and books I read, can tend to all speak the same language and describe things in similar fashion. While great, if I’m not careful I’m only experiencing a distinct aspect of the Body of Christ.
Continue reading “Different Streams”I am in awe of the current season of life. I wonder how long it will last. It seems a little bit like a dream, is this real life? Is this my life? Is this what I get to do. The funny thing about life is we can’t know what is around the corner, we don’t know when something may end or a new thing begin. And yet how much time do we waste worrying about what may or may not happen. What if instead we just embraced what is, and lived fully in it. No excuses. No apologies.
The blog this week is simple, short, with no excuses and no apologies. Just an exercise in living in what is!
There are times in life when someone reveals a new, unique perspective about a situation and you never look at it the same again. It’s as if there was a hidden layer just below the surface that you never knew about because you didn’t see it until someone showed it to you. It reminds me of how polarized glasses allow you to see things under the surface of water more clearly.
Continue reading “Look Again”
As part of my morning routine I’m often reading Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson. If you’re not familiar with David Pawson, one of the things I most admire about his teachings is his insistence that each book of the Bible needs to be read as a book, otherwise we miss a lot of the context.
In the beginning of Unlocking the Bible, there’s a poem similar to the one below. It’s cited as Unknown, and I figured I could find the true author somehow, and I did. This was written by Amos R. Wells. (see link to the original at the end of this post)
Continue reading “When I Read the Bible Through”
This week we’re starting a new series called Discover God’s Greatness. We will be taking time to work our way slowly through Psalm 145. This psalm caught my attention and I have been singing my way through it on the piano. The verses captivate me so I just linger on each, singing them again and again.
Continue reading “Highest Praise”
We never know for sure how or when God is going to intercept us along our journey, and when He does it’s often much different than we’d expect. I suppose it has everything to do with the fact His ways and thoughts are so much better than ours. The lyrics “so much better Your way” are currently resonating with me. What I do know is this, God deeply desires to connect with us, He is constantly pursuing us, and He can be as creative as He wishes in His approach with us.
God is using CrossFit to unfold a new chapter in my life’s story with Him. If you are not aware, CrossFit is an approach to fitness that uses olympic lifting, gymnastics, and cardiovascular conditioning in all sorts of combinations to create an effective fitness program. I have not always been an advocate for CrossFit. In fact, as a group fitness instructor I used to tell people not to do CrossFit! I am singing a new song after taking on a personal challenge of doing 90 consecutive crossfit workouts (6 days a week). God has been teaching me spiritual lessons that apply to many areas of life. As I share them here I pray they empower you to move forward in what God has for you.
Continue reading “90 Days of CrossFit”
Some people are turned off by the word perfection. I can see where they are coming from, as striving for perfection is oft associated with stress, burnout, and pipe dreaming. What happens then, when Jesus uses this very word to describe God, then aims it at us saying “you are to be perfect like him.”? Where do we even begin with a challenge like this?
Continue reading “Three Part Perfection”
This series is titled Spirit Soul Body, not Body Soul Spirit for a reason. It’s just a matter of personal preference. I feel as though Spirit needs to come first and Body last. Not that our bodies are worthless, but going back to the car analogy from our previous post, this body is just the vehicle that houses our Spirit and Soul while we’re here on Earth. While maintaining your vehicle is crucial, especially if you want to get around comfortably and reliably, its occupants are far more valuable.
Continue reading “What’s Your Body Saying?”
Is being overly emotional a bad thing? Let’s find out in our final of three posts breaking down the different areas of our soul. Made up of our mind, our will, and our emotions, each are powerful ways we can be led of the spirit. On the flip side, as with many things, these can also be areas where our soul leads over our spirit; not a good thing.
If this is your first time here, welcome! We encourage you to go back and read Take Captive Every Thought to learn about our mind, and then The Beautiful Gift of Choice whose focus is on our will. Then you’ll be all caught up with this mini-series within a series.
Continue reading “Emotional Realignment”