It is the nature of a roaring fire to eventually consume the fuel and exhaust the energy produced by the process.
So the fire recedes.
The heat subsides.
And unless the fire is rekindled, it eventually dies.
To rekindle is to throw smaller, simpler fuel – the easy-to-ignite stuff – onto an already existing fire. It is to blow new air onto the embers. [click to continue…]
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I just want to be the guy who says yes.
I want to say yes to the character and call of God. I want to so live my life that His faithfulness shines like the morning sun. I want other people to have confidence in Him because of what they see in me.
I want to say yes to a better tomorrow. I want to charge into the future with expectancy and imagination. I want to tip my hat to the things that make us afraid, then kick the hell out of fears that paralyze us. I want to embrace a freer, more joyful horizon for myself and my world, then take as many people as I can in that direction. [click to continue…]
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Uh oh…
Somebody lost touch with their “Y.”
When you lose your “Y” something else seems missing, too.
Somebody offers a solution: “What’s missing is a B!”
So your J-O-Y becomes a J-O-B. [click to continue…]
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Growth invites The Resistance.
The Resistance calls for perseverance. [click to continue…]
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Look behind you.
Not literally; behind me right now is the back of a chair.
Metaphorically speaking, look behind you, and you’ll probably find somebody following you. They may be following your instructions, following your example, or even following your dreams. They may be following your words and images on social media, but that’s not the same thing.
Look beside you and guess what? You’ll find people following there, too. They may position themselves more as friends or colleagues, but they make sure to stay in your orbit. In NASCAR they call this “side drafting.” And people are probably side drafting you, whether you realize it or not.
Let me pause here to roll my eyes and tell you – again – that even if you don’t think of yourself as a leader, you are. Everybody influences somebody. Somebody looks to you as the person to obey, the example to follow, the partner to collaborate with, or the sense maker in their times of uncertainty or confusion.
That leads to the Big Question then… Where are you leading them?
All you need to do to find the answer to that question is look ahead. [click to continue…]
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This just in… Thanksgiving is staging a comeback. After several years of retail retreat from Black Friday, creeping into stores opening sometime on Thanksgiving Day, retailers seem to have gotten the message either from employees or the public. More and more are again choosing to close on Turkey Day.
Oh. I mean Thanksgiving.
But this isn’t about retail habits or family traditions. In fact, it isn’t about holidays – American or otherwise – at all.
It’s about giving thanks. [click to continue…]
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It was a funny exercise. The memory-making type of thing that happens randomly when you spend time hanging out with kids. Or in my case, grandkids.
Laura Kate and Shepherd (#1 and #3 of 9 if you’re keeping score) were in the back seat and we were headed home from a VBS family night. With everybody’s schedule crossways on this particular night, I got to be the “family.” We’d had the program, topped off by some awesome brain-freezing shaved ice. They had played in the bounce houses some, and now we had escaped the Alabama humidity and were back in the truck headed to their house.
We got to talking about different sounds that animals make, and I was asking them if they could imitate them. Then, on a whim, I asked, “Can you imitate Fischer?”
Fischer is their four-year-old little brother.
Laura Kate popped up: “Mama, Shepuhd and Sistuh huht my feewings.”
You just had to be there… It was dead-on and hysterically funny.
We went from that to others, like their parents, but the first one was the hit of the night.
Who doesn’t love a good impression – especially a funny one? And it’s true, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery – even to an 8-year-old.
It’s also a raw demonstration of leadership at a very fundamental level. [click to continue…]
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Hey. Bible scholar.
Yes, you.
I have a thought question for you.
Remember David? King… giant slayer… and that other nickname he is famous for?
Yeah, that one – a “man after God’s own heart.”
God Himself used the phrase first and it is repeated throughout scripture. Samuel said to Saul, “But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart…” (1 Samuel 13:14). And He found that in David.
And He repeated that over and over again, not just during David’s lifetime, but throughout the Bible. Something about this man, who obviously had some pretty serious personal flaws (liar, adulterer, and murderer for starters) was so unique that God used His version of neon lights and pointed to this man again and again.
Why? [click to continue…]
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Suppertime. And it’s quite a little dinner party there in Bethany. All twelve disciples of Jesus are there, as is Jesus Himself, for whom the dinner was made.
Curiously enough, Lazarus – the friend of Jesus who never uttered a recorded word – is there, too. And this is after his four-day journey to the pit.
Martha is there, of course, being Martha, and making things happen.
And in comes Mary. She’s carrying an alabaster box. With all the movement and conversation as people recline at a Middle Eastern dinner table, I doubt very many people notice her at first. But that’s OK. Mary wasn’t interested in being noticed. She was interested in something – and Someone – much greater.
That said, no one could escape the fragrance that filled the room. It penetrated everything, everyone, everywhere.
Is that nard?
Nard it is.
That’s expensive stuff. To say nothing of the now-broken box that carried it.
Where is that coming from? [click to continue…]
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A Celebration of the nearness and faithfulness of a God who reveals Himself by His names.
(Try reading this out loud, perhaps with a partner.)
We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks,
For Your name is near… And Your nearness is our good.
I AM THAT I AM.
And we give You thanks.
I always have been and always will be.
And we give You thanks.
I need no one to define Me, or remake me in their image.
And You are near.
I reveal Myself unceasingly.
And Your nearness is our good.
I am faithful and true in My covenant love.
So we Your people and the sheep of Your pasture
Will give thanks to You forever.
+++++++
We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks,
For Your name is near… And Your nearness is our good.
I am Jehovah-Nissi, The Lord Your Banner. [click to continue…]
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