Mercy. Early in my faith walk I was ignorant about the imperative to insert my motives–the soul’s compass–into the daily conversation I was having with God. Into my thoughts. Into my attitude. Into my behavior. mo·tive: A reason for doing something, especially one that is hidden or not obvious.    This notion of motives zoomed to the surface of my thoughts yesterday while I was...

The World Health Organization has just classified BURNOUT as an official diagnosis when stress has been mismanaged. Welcome to a new world of chasing the elusive “I want everything” dream. It’s not a surprise. Burnout is an epidemic rolling through our culture like a bowling ball toppling vulnerable pins that can be knocked over on impact.    Burnout is mostly associated with the workplace...

God created us with a predisposition to seek perfection. But only God is perfect. Most believers understand this point most of the time. But that understanding is often in the context of a “perfection principle” that can quickly disappear once life’s Tilt-A-Whirl bolts from the safety of its loading zone.    This is when Christians are most vulnerable to have their faith dislocated and...

John’s world was collapsing around him. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer and lost his mom to a heart attack in the same month. Dementia was ravaging his dad’s mind. And his adult daughter had stopped talking with him after exploding this bomb at his feet: “You care more about the church than you care about your family.” This story is real and unfolding right now in middle America in the life...

People tend to regard armadillos as cartoon-like characters. It’s hard to take them seriously. They look odd. Walk odd. Act odd. But there is something oddly cool to me about armadillos. I was talking yesterday with a group of dear friends when someone dropped the “Armadillo Card!” I can’t even remember their point, but I have not been able to delete it from my mind ever since. So I went in the other...

If we don’t believe God’s promises about our identity in Christ BEFORE we actually feel it, the lies we have allowed to take residence in our soul will prevail. The consequence? We take on intense feelings of inadequacy that suppress activation of our faith.    The brutality of life leaves in its wake a stream of uncertainty that shakes even the strongest confidence. We erect barriers to...

Christians can easily forget that God has us on a SERIOUS road to develop our faith. And no believer wants to miss discovering the full plate of blessings God wants us to enjoy in this life. But “SERIOUS SPIRITUALITY” can seem impossible. But I know first-hand that Serious Spirituality IS possible because God showed me how to do it.    The first step is to acknowledge that Serious Spirituality...

The day my natural self was vanquished is a vivid memory seared into my mind’s hard drive and tightly attached to the walls of my now-free heart. Instead of trying to manage and control the “bad things in life” that produce pain, God helped me learn to view those events as on-ramps to glorify him. The door to discerning his will. The ticket to trigger what it means to walk with Christ.    I...

“Every object in a state of uniform motion will remain in that state of motion unless an external force acts on it.”                         Sir Isaac Newton 1679 Most baseball experts agree that Ozzie Smith—aptly nicknamed the Wizard of Oz–is the best fielding shortstop in major league history. The question everyone seems to ask...

The world’s soundtrack keeps getting louder and louder as it plays out on a Smartphone billboard conveying messages along an assembly line destined to capture our attention. The result?    God has more “attention competition” than ever before.    All of us are at risk. Many of us are becoming increasingly less attentive. Some of us have Spiritual Attention Deficit Disorder.    What...