Tag Archives: Spiritual Growth

Posted on

How God Instills Margin When You May Not Even Know You Need It

One of the big buzzwords in my life recently is the word “margin”.

I hear it everywhere.  I read about it on blogs.  I was even handed a book recently on creating margin in my life.

I placed it on the shelf.  I’ll get to it soon.

Right.

A couple of weeks ago, I hurt my lower back.  I was making the bed, and I just twisted wrong or stretched too far.

X Ray Displaying Lower Back Pain

That should teach me to make the bed…

I suffered in pain for a few days with no improvement, so I went to our local chiropractor.

I used to be that guy who made fun of people who went to the chiropractor.  Not so much anymore.

He looked at my back, made a few adjustments, and told me that my spine was about a mile out of line.  He asked me what I’d been doing.  I just made the bed!

Posted on

Memorize The Sermon On The Mount – Week 11

This week’s passage seems pretty applicable for Easter.  These verses speak on reconciliation.  And that’s what Easter is all about: Christ reconciling us to himself.

Pretty cool how that worked out.

The passage for this week is Matthew 5:23-24.

Matthew 5:23-24

Here’s a link to the passage at Bible Gateway.

How are you doing with this?  Let me know in the comments.

 

Posted on

The Battle: Rise Of Darkness

Our church is performing a pretty extensive evangelistic drama this week.

It’s called The Battle:  Rise of Darkness.  And it’s incredibly bold and creates and atmosphere where people are faced with the reality of life, death and eternity.

The Battle: Rise Of Darkness

Here’s the concept:  The Battle has several scenarios.  In each of these scenes, someone dies.  Sometimes it’s several people that die.  All of a sudden, they are in the presence of Christ, and whether they enter heaven or are cast into hell depends on how they lived their life.

With several scenes portraying different tragedies, this drama is a major dose of the spiritual reality that we often ignore.  Some of the include a car accident, a gang fight, a robbery gone bad, an earthquake, a plane crash, and a young child who gets a hold of a gun.

Like I said, it’s pretty intense.

Posted on

Book Review: Max On Life – by Max Lucado

Max On LifeMax Lucado’s new book is different thank anything I’ve ever read by him.

Usually, Lucado’s books are developed around a central theme, and that topic is discussed throughout the book.

Not so with this one.

The concept of this Max On Life is a lot like the FAQ section for life’s manual.  Lucado takes almost 200 questions that he’s collected over the last several years of his ministry and answers each of them briefly.

Topics range from hope and grace, pain and suffering, relationships, sex and marriage, heaven and hell, money, Scripture, prayer and more.

While interesting, I really didn’t like the format.

It was too brief.

There were a lot of questions that I felt Lucado could have delved into a little deeper.  There were a few answers that I felt he was off base.  I just didn’t think this book flowed as smoothly as it could have.

Sure, there were a few nuggets here and there that were good.  But there was a lot of reading in between those.

In my opinion, if you want information on any of these individual topics, there are much better resources out there that specifically speak to that issue.  Use those resources.  Max On Life is ok, but it isn’t that great of a help.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze blogger review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.“

Posted on

Memorize The Sermon On The Mount – Week 10

Week 10!  We’ve come a long way!

I don’t know about you, but memorizing the Sermon on the Mount is being very rewarding.  It seems as if God is speaking the truth of each week’s passage into my life during the very week I’m memorizing it.  Pretty amazing!  My guess is that this week will be no different.

The passage for this week is Matthew 5:21-22.  This is the murder/anger passage, and is very applicable in our world today.

Matthew 5:21-22

Here’s a link to the passage at Bible Gateway.

Has any particular passage we’ve memorized so far really spoken to you?  Let me know in the comments.

 

Posted on

Invisible Children: Speak Out Without Speaking

Human trafficking is a growing crisis in our world.

And many of us aren’t even aware that the problem exists.

Human trafficking occurs in three main forms:  sex slavery, forced labor, and child soldiers.  Many of you may know that our church and youth ministry are supporters of Rapha House, an organization that strives to end sex trafficking in Cambodia and other Asian countries.

But what about the other forms of slavery?  How do we combat those?

One opportunity is by partnering with Invisible Children.

Invisible Children Banner

Invisible Children was founded by three young filmmakers after a trip to Africa.  While there, they learned about the longest running war on the entire continent.  It is a conflict started by one man, Joseph Kony, who now terrorizes four countries with his LRA, the Lord’s Resistance Army.

It is the longest running conflict on the continent, and the soldiers are children abducted from their homes and forced to fight.

We are a movement seeking to end this conflict and bring them home. We seek to rebuild schools, educate leaders, and provide jobs in Northern Uganda. We are the motivated misfits and masses redefining what it means to be an activist.

Posted on

Memorize The Sermon On The Mount – Week 9

We’re up to week 9 as we memorize the Sermon on the Mount.

I’ve been really encouraged by these chapters from the book of Matthew.  This memorization goal has been great for me, so far.  And I only expect it to continue to get better the further we memorize in this passage.

The passage for this week is Matthew 5:19-20.

Matthew 5:19-20

Here’s a link to the passage at Bible Gateway.

So far, what part of the Sermon of the Mount do you love the best?  Let me know in the comments.