Self-Leadership in a Crisis God uses times of crisis to prepare leaders for, well… times of crisis. Perhaps you can trace your own leadership roots to a trial, weakness or disappointment. It’s how God prepared and reconstructed the Apostle Paul, who bravely said, “For when I’m weak, then I’m strong.” That’s comforting for someone…
Keep Fishing!
Storm clouds overhead, the first drops of cool rain sprinkle the kayak. I’m on the far side of the lake fishing for bass. In summer they run deep, so I’m easing the line along the bottom. A pesky outboard has been roaring past me for the last ten minutes with skier’s in tow. Each time I need to…
Set Back, Or Set Up?
When I signed on to the Great Commission army, I though my my job description was straight forward; “Go and make disciples of all nations.” What I missed was the fine print; ‘This enlistment will cost you everything.’ Jesus told the parable of the man who found a treasure, sold all he had, and went…
The Power Of An Endless Life
The night I received Christ I returned to my dorm room and looked at the large framed picture hanging over my desk. In it a man stretched himself over a cliff to save a lamb caught on a ledge. I had bought the antique print several years before. But in that moment, for the first…
What Gladys Didn’t Tell Me
The first story I ever heard from the Bible came from my Grandmother, Gladys. The day before, someone had stolen my bike, and I was in her kitchen with a long face, nibbling on butter cookies. She sat down and spun the tale of three young men who had angered a king and were sent…
No Greater Love
An associate of mine had quoted conventional wisdom, “First your oxygen mask, then everyone else.” However, under her breath she quickly added, “I’d probably not do that actually, because I’d put the mask on the one I love, before myself.” Good, I thought, bravo! Jesus is talking. I read an article this week titled Two…
The Fast Cheetah Doesn’t Win!
Our three-year old granddaughter, Willa, announced to us the other day, “we can’t go outside!” When I asked why, she said, “there’s a fast cheetah out there!” “Oh my,” I gasped, playful, as I stared at the phone screen into her saucer eyes and puckered lips. “Who told you that?” “Mommy!” “She’s right, there…
Free & Fearless
The new assistant to the prime minister was nervous; he had never been around such a powerful man. When he got to the massive entrance to the mansion, his trembling finger pushed the doorbell. He waited, heart pounding. Suddenly, the doors swung open, and there in the foyer was the man he feared, down on…
Stronger In The Chain
“In the long history of the church, one man is simply a link in the chain of eternity.” When I first read these lines in Pearl S. Buck’s novel, God’s Men, I was struck with how one solitary life can be of such ultimate value in the kingdom of God. Today, in one way or…
Can You Feel The Squeeze?
Fathers and mothers are holding their children tighter than ever these days. Even as anxiety sits heavy in the air, God wants us to feel that same kind of squeeze from him. I admit, the climbing numbers, the lockdowns, the stories of men my age dying, all started to get to me. The good part?…
Stretch Out Your Hand…
A shadow has crept across our landscape with Covid-19 spreading through communities. There’s a tendency to let that shade mute our typical effervescent selves, make our life smaller, less engaged—even quiet our voices. However, God created night, not to bring fear, but to offer rest, rejuvenation and shared moments; to pour back into us what…
Dom Vito, Repair Man
My friend was telling me about his repair man, Don Vito. “We were sitting in my RV as he was tinkering with the broken generator,” he said. “I wanted to get to know this gregarious Italian; what was behind his infectious personality.” Dom had lived on the coast in a beautiful home in San Clemente,…
To Sir, with love 