Preston is about 14 months old; his future is literally wide open in front of him. But even as young as he is, he already is feeling the effects of a broken home. He didn’t ask for it, but for the rest of his life he’ll be living in the Land of Nod.
Gina grew up in the perfect family – at least that’s what everyone believed. But they didn’t hear the verbal and occasional physical abuse Gina suffered growing up. Very few understand the strange combination of anger and shyness that marks her personality today. But the long trail of disrupted friendships and broken romances tell the painful story. Gina is living in the land of Nod.
In the aftermath of history’s first broken relationship, the Bible says that Cain “went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the Land of Nod, on the East of Eden” (Genesis 4:16). As a race, we’ve been living in the aftermath of broken relationships – in the Land of Nod – ever since.
Are We Still That Clueless?
It’s amazing. Thousands of years of history have passed, and we’ve learned an awful lot. These days the knowledge available to the world doubles at rates we measure by minutes rather than centuries. What’s more amazing to me, however, is what we have yet to learn. [click to continue…]
(A Turning Point Story)
Glavine
It was something out of a Looney Toons episode. The kind of thing you’ve heard about happening, never assumed would happen to you.
It happened to me.
I had gone away on a far journey and entrusted all my worldly goods to my wife and three kids, telling them we’d settle accounts when I got home.
Well, not exactly.
September 13, 2001 – Do the calendar math. It was a surreal and vulnerable time. I was actually out of town on a consulting trip, when I got a call fairly early in the morning. My twin daughters were calling, breathless with excitement. Somebody had gotten the bright idea to leave a cardboard box in front of our house with two kittens inside.
“Daddy, can we keep ‘em, pleeze? We’ll take care of them, and feed them, and clean up after them. We promise.”
I wanted to kill them. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on October 28, 2008
in Ability,Allocating Your Resources,Consumers,Enlarging Your Capacity,Insight,LV Alter-egos,LV Cycle,Life Currency,Money,Pleasers,Time
Here’s a little exercise we actually take worship service time to practice occasionally. Follow the instructions carefully (yes, I mean I want you to actually do this):
- Take a deep breath
- Let out half of it.
- Hold
- Smile
- Repeat the following out loud, in a calm soothing voice:
“No.”
Repeat this exercise regularly, just for practice, and as needed in live game situations.
Not, “No because…”
Not, “Maybe later…”
Not, “Let me pray about it…”
Certainly not, “See if you can find somebody else, and if you can’t, I’ll see what I can do.”
Learning to graciously, kindly refuse is one of eight steps to building or rebuilding margin in your life. Margin has to do with creating gaps – cushions of time, money, energy, or spiritual strength that act as living shock absorbers for those who have them.
Imagine how it could revolutionize your attitude, relationships, productivity, and health if the next time somebody says, “Got a minute?” you actually do! [click to continue…]
Pastors get lots of interesting questions. You be the pastor for a minute and answer this one I once received:
Does God like to have fun? What does God do for fun?
What would you say? To me, it’s a sad commentary on our Christianity when someone even has to ask the first question. But both questions deserve an answer, or at least a thought. Here, for what it’s worth, is mine. Click on the comments link below and share yours.
Does God like to have fun? You bet he does! Have you ever seen a platypus? Or a puppy? Or a picture of me?
Does God like to have fun? Of course! Why else would he put two sisters in the same family, and give one straight blonde hair and the other one curly dark hair? In fact, why else would He create everybody so differently? [click to continue…]
What if you could completely reframe situations or people by seeing them with a different perspective?
What if you could turn jerks into friends, or at least into sympathetic partners?
What if you could gain new courage and confidence in any situation you faced by seeing with a different set of lenses?
What if you could be greatly used by God to make a profound difference in other people’s lives, simply by a change in perspective?
You can.
Why did God say, “My thoughts are not your thoughts?” Was it to rub it in, or to reach out?
Just thinking…
The question was relevant and greatly needed. A wife in couples counseling once asked, “How do I deal with resentment so that I don’t explode at my husband and say things I’ll regret?”
“You toss the Oreo,” I replied.
To their honestly-delighted quizzical looks (she loved Oreos), I explained:
Here’s a communication technique that can help you communicate your feelings and ask for your partner’s help. I call it “tossing the Oreo.” And no, I don’t mean getting mad and hurling cookies at your spouse!
[click to continue…]
He puts smiles on the faces of little boys.
He sprinkles sweetness on little girls.
He gives dignity to solemn vows, and sacredness to relationships.
He brings purpose and satisfaction to the striving and seeking of your life.
And it is this life of Jesus that brings healing and peace into the broken life.
I live – I live – because He is risen.
Those words, from a musical titled “Living Witnesses,” profoundly impacted my life more than 30 years ago. So much so that we had them printed on the cover of our wedding brochure in 1983. And on this week in which all over the world we pay attention to the fact that Jesus lives, I find myself thinking of them again. Read them again, slowly. Deeply.
[click to continue…]
Jan is a mother of four, two each from two failed marriages. This morning, her 19-year-old lost his temper and verbally crushed his mother with a flurry of profanity and rage. Jan wanted to die, literally. I got the call.
