Jesus was a master planner. He knew when to wait and pray and He knew when to step out and act. There is a time for both. There is a season of consideration and planning, and then there is a season of acting and carrying out the plan. Wisdom demands both seasons. If we act without planning we find ourselves in a self-inflected trial. If we plan, but never carry out the plan then we are nothing more than thinkers and not doers, and ultimately accomplish little. In Luke 14 Jesus is telling a parable. It is a story about counting the cost of following Him. In verses 28-30 He says, For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ The spiritual point of the story is clear. Don’t follow Jesus without first consid

I’m suddenly wide awake. I thought I heard a sound coming from the front door. I’m a bit groggy. I lay still and listen intently. A few minutes go by and I hear nothing else. I think of the big stick I have under the edge of my bed. It’s a handy way to pound intruders into submission; all in the name of Jesus of course. I look at the clock; it’s two in the morning. I remember two of my kids are driving home late tonight from college in Southern Cal. Maybe my sudden awakening is some kind of premonition. Maybe they have broken down and are stranded on the side of the freeway. Worse yet, maybe there has been an accident. I sit up and send them a text message asking how their trip is going and where they are at. I lie back down and cover up. Ten minutes goes by, no reply to my text. That’s not like them. They usually reply right away if they can. Maybe one is sleeping and the other is being good about not texting while driving. A few more minutes go by. Now my mind is turn

Today I sit in the snow and I am freezing cold. I open the box; pull out the little book inside. I flip through the book to the next empty line and I sign my name and write the date. I pass the book to my buddy and he enters his John Hancock. We close the book, put it back in the metal box and shut the lid. There, we’ve done it. Mission accomplished. My name is in the book! What a great feeling. Anyone else combing through the pages will see my name, scribbled among so many others. This is my third attempt to write my name in this book. I failed the first two tries, but have finally succeeded. I’m proud of the effort and determination I was able to muster to write my name here. I sit for a few minutes with a deep sense of satisfaction. My buddy and I shake hands and congratulate each other. Physically this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. And I did it just to get my name in that book. After a short time we pick up our gear and head back down the mountain trail. The meta

Why do these kinds of things happen to me every so often? Not all the time, but frequently enough to show me there is a pattern. I regularly find myself is strange predicaments. Tonight I’m sitting on the dugout bench on the local softball field. Our church men’s softball team is getting ready to play a game against another superior team. We were asked to move up one division because the rec softball coordinator is a friend of mine and our usual league was full. Now we are over our heads. But that’s not my real issue tonight. When I was walking out of the garage to come tonight I threw my bat bag and cleats into the back of the truck without much thought. When I arrived at the ball field and pulled my gear out I realized the cleats were not my cleats. They looked the same, and they were sitting right next to my bat bag, so I assumed they were mine. Low and behold they were Amanda’s cleats, my daughter’s shoes. Now I wear a size ten and a half, sometimes I can squeeze into

Hello everyone, This Sunday I am starting a new series on Sunday morning and I would like your input. I am looking at some of the myths that Christians tend to believe. Such as: God spares Christians from having major setbacks or defeats; If we do it must be our own fault. Or: Christians who love God never go through deep personal pains or dark valleys; we should always have joy Or: Obedience to God is always rewarded with physical blessings, i.e. a job, a nice house, money in the bank. Or: Christian morality is old fashion; God is not that concerned with my actions, He really just wants my heart devotion. These are just a few of the myths that many Christians believe to be true. Do you have one to add to my list? I want to spend about 6 weeks in this series, so I'm looking for a few more myths to inves

This afternoon I’m sitting behind Roy. He is the pastor of a small church in a small town. Today we are at an annual conference we both attend. Roy is now in his sixties and he is winding down his ministry journey. Sitting directly behind him I notice the back of Roy’s head; he appears to be in need of a haircut. I’ve noticed that, as I age, my hairline recedes and hair sprouts from new places elsewhere on my head. I have come to the conclusion that maturing men don’t actually lose their hair; it simply migrates back into the scalp to later reappear in the regions of the ears and nostrils. Roy’s hair seems to have been doing a lot of migrating lately. I suffer from the same fate. I know Roy because my first year at this retreat I was his roommate. I was randomly placed with Roy in a two-bed room. Roy was in his late forties; me in my late twenties. I was new to this Pastoring thing but had big aspirations. While rooming with Roy for a few days I learned that his ministry