Remember
What value comes to those who will stop long enough this Memorial Day weekend to remember the ultimate price that freedom requires? In a nation that is struggling to determine its national identity, how do we benefit by memorializing those who were willing to die to preserve an ideal?
Only as I reflect on my own life experience can I even begin to answer why Memorial Day is so important.
3 Principles for Growth as a Leader
One of my favorite topics for personal study is the topic of Leadership. Leadership, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, impacts every area of life. Relationships, career, and finances are all impacted by our ability, or lack of ability, to lead. Fortunately, if you are interested in growing in this area, you have no shortage of opportunity. There is, in fact, so much information about how to be a better leader, that it can become overwhelming! With so much information available to us, how do we decide what is relevant and what is not? While I do my best to learn everywhere that I can, I’ve found it helpful to consume information that aligns with the following principles.
Perfection Is Not The Goal
The belief that we have to achieve some level of perfection in order to be accepted can be an overwhelming weight to bear. You do not, and cannot, achieve perfection. That should never be the goal. And if the people in your life, the ones that you want to please, expect you to be perfect, you need new people in your life! They aren’t perfect and if they really care about you, won’t expect you to be.
Everything Has a Price Tag
We tend to live our lives as though we get to decide if something is “worth it” or not. Somewhere along the way we have been taught that we either decide to pay the price and get the prize, whatever that may be, or decide that the price is too high and we are just going to move on. What we have to understand though, this is the perspective part, is that every decision has a cost. In life there is no such thing as deciding not to pay.
The Power of Process
There is a very simple principle that I come back to again and again. It is so simple, in fact, that it can be easy to overlook or dismiss as unimportant. If your goal is to live a life of peace and perseverance though, you must understand and embrace this principle. What is the principle?
There is Power in Process!
Lessons Learned From An Ultra Marathon
Last week I had the opportunity to run (and finish) the Zion 100k Ultra marathon. For those who are interested in the full experience, I actually posted a video taken throughout the day here. While this was not my first ultra distance race, it was my longest and definitely most challenging. Held just outside of Zion National Park this race had incredible views and over 6,000 ft. of vertical! It was an incredible challenge and one that I am thankful I could take on. As with any major challenge, physical or otherwise, there were quite a few lessons learned that I had the time to process over the 17 hours I was running (and walking if I am being completely honest). And since I would hate to keep these hard learned lessons to myself, I thought I would share them here.
The Way, The Truth, The Life
Easter, (what we call Resurrection Sunday at my church), is one of my favorite days of the year. I love the time with family and the festive nature of the weekend, but most of all I’m thankful to be reminded of the power and importance of Christs resurrection. It is in the death and resurrection that we see God’s love for us displayed (Romans 5:8), but it’s also because of the death and resurrection that we are given access to a relationship with the Father! And while this is a truth often overlooked in many religious circles, we are told in the Scriptures that Jesus is the ONLY way of salvation.
The Personal Power of Encouragement
We are living at a time, not too different than other times I would imagine, that can be extremely discouraging. It seems like everywhere you look something bad is happening. I know that most of us are trying to keep it together and pretend like everything is ok. The reality for most people is that they are walking around, living their lives, discouraged. Even though it’s easy to get caught up in the very real difficulty of our day, the Bible prescribes a different way to live.
If The Foundations Be Destroyed
As David the Psalmist considered all that was happening in his world, he made the following statement framed as a question: If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?-Psalm 11:3 At a difficult time, when the world around...
Appointed: Understanding your God-given purpose
Did you catch what he said? So much good stuff here but two BIG things jump out at me (they are the two bold phrases in case you were wondering): Paul is saying that purpose is given by GOD, and that he (Paul) knew what that purpose was. He said that he was “appointed” a preacher and apostle and teacher. God established the purpose for Paul’s life. This is an incredible truth that does not only apply to New Testament Apostles. It applies to all of us! So the big question is, “how can we understand GODS purpose for our lives?”