John Maxwell, How High Will You Climb?
(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2014), p. 54
Remember, only others can stop you temporarily, but you are the only one who can do it permanently.
Sons Need To Have Fun Times With Their Dads
Godly Men: Being Deliberate With Our Wives and Kids
A few years ago, my son Titus and I spent the weekend at a father/son retreat at Lake Aurora Christian Camp. And it was pretty incredible.
We had some great experiences together. Titus and I first hit the waterfront and took a paddle-boat out onto the lake. It was pretty comical. Titus weighs significantly less than I do, so the paddle boat listed to the side pretty hard. Kinda made it hard to turn…
That evening after dinner, we had some game time, a campfire with singing, a devotion, and s’mores, and a hayride around the camp property.
Late night activities included dodge ball, capture the flag and other games.
The next morning, there was a great opportunity for father and son devotions together after breakfast. This was probably the most meaningful part of the weekend for me. Sharing in God’s Word with my son that morning is a memory I will cherish.
After our devotion time, we headed to the climbing tower. Titus successfully attempted to climb the medium difficulty wall. This is one of the proudest moments I’ve experienced with Titus. After all, he was only eight, and this was a pretty significant achievement for him. Once on top of the tower, he zip-lined down the eighty foot cable to the bottom.
Living In The Sacred Now (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2001)
This year, I am trying to ficus my life down and be more simplistic in what I do, to be more unhurried. And I learn best by reading, so I have gathered a list of books about rest, and Sabbath, and living unhurried, and biographies of those who have done so, to help me understand and achieve more of this in my own life.
One of the books I have decided to reread is Kim Thomas’ book, Living In The Sacred Now. This is a book with a series of very short chapters that are devotional in nature. She describes what it looks like to be immediately present in the moment, and not focused on what is behind, or what is to come.
I first read this about ten or twelve years ago, but I think it has a lot to offer for my thought process, especially in this area of my life. You may be interested in it as well. If this is an area you struggle in, I suggest you grab a copy and read it. You can’t get it from Amazon directly, but you can find it from several third party sellers there.
Coffee Break – 01.29.2018
Your Monday Dose Of Inspiration
On this day in history: In 1845, Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, The Raven, was published for the first time in the New York Evening Mirror. In 1924, R. Taylor patented the ice cream cone rolling machine. And in 1936, the first members of major league baseball’s Hall of Fame were named in Cooperstown, NY.
Today Is National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day!
You know what to do…
The Only Iced Coffee Maker You’ll Ever Need – Iced coffee is an excellent way to drink this incredible beverage. And this looks like a great way to make it. I may need to grab one of these and write a review over at Coffeelogical.
Workmen’s Cafe Overwhelmed With Customers After It Is Accidentally Awarded A Michelin Star – This happened a year ago, but it’s still humorous.
The Mysterious Rock Walls Of Rockwall, Texas – This is on my bucket list of places to visit some day…
Alpine Adventures – I love mountains. My favorite place on earth is out in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, but I am fascinated with any mountains, really. This video shows the beauty of the Alps.
Memorize Scripture: Psalm 119:9-12
Hiding God’s Word In Our Hearts
Beth, the second strophe of Psalm 119, begins with a very well known and oft quoted verse. Take a look at it for yourself in Psalm 119:9-12:
The most dominant theme that comes through in this second stanza is one of joy and praise. In these four verses, the psalmist writes about holding fast to the Word of God, and then ends with an exclamation of praise in verse 11. And where does this delight and joy find its source? In God’s Word.
This passage starts off with a simple question: How are we to live a holy life? How are we to keep ourselves pure? The answer is immediately given, and is found in living our lives in accordance with the Word of God.
As a youth minister, I cannot count the number of times I heard people say something to the effect of, “I want to enjoy my life while I am young. I’ll consider church and Christianity when I’m older.” But the psalmist reverses that, and says that the way to purity begins when we are young, or at least as young as we can possibly be. This does not discount the possibility of people coming to know God late in life, but rather states the principle that we need to turn to God now, before another moment goes by, as soon as possible. Or, as Hebrews 3 tells us, this is a decision to make today.
The next couple of verses show the lengths we are to go to in order to seek after God’s Word and make it a priority in our lives. Verse two tells us to seek it with all our hearts. Verse three states that we must hide it in our hearts. Doing so will have the effect of helping us not to stray, and helping us to avoid sin.
The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.
- Victor Frankl, survivor of a Nazi concentration camp
Examining The 3:16s Of The Bible
Some Important Scriptures At Similar References
We are starting a new series this weekend at our church, and it is different than anything I have ever tried before.
Typically, I prefer to preach expositorily, where we take a passage and examine what it has to say, digging out the nuggets of truth in what God is saying through that particular passage. And how I typically like to do that is by working through a book completely, which is what I have done several times in the past, with books like Hebrews or Colossians, or the Gospel of John.
When I do preach a topical series, I preach on one topic, and then I preach expository sermons on each of the passages we look at that talk about that topic. I did this with our Marriage Matters series, for example, and a couple of financial series.
But this series is kind of different. It’s different in the fact that we will be looking at a completely different topic each week, and no two are the same. We will still take a deep, expository look at each passage, but the only common denominator in this series is where each of those passages are located in the Bible.