Create your future. Solve problems. Impact eternity. Live - really live - today.
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We all face days of adversity,
Moments of hostility,
Nights of weeping, uncertainty, regret.
But sometimes those days extend into weeks,
The moments into seasons,
The nights into a relentless deluge with no break in sight.
We all carry a plan for that rainy day,
But what do you do when the storms are raging? [click to continue…]
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It’s one thing to honor God when your quiver, nest and storehouses are full.
Honoring Him in times of great loss is quite another.
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Today’s a special day – not just because it’s my daughter-in-law’s birthday – that would make it special enough! But today’s also the fifth birthday of this site.
Almost 10 years ago my friend Kevin Rhoads was telling me about a new way to communicate that had become really popular – something called “blogging,” which was short for “web log.” “It’s sort of like an online journal,” he said.
Hmmph. Knowing the kind of stuff I usually put in my journal, my first reaction was, “That’s a crazy idea. Who would want to read that?”
Then a couple of years later I wrote a book for a 40-day church campaign, complete with videos and teaching sessions, called LifeVesting. You can read the back story here. After that, I was looking for ideas to keep the momentum and to expand the message that was in that book.
It was then that I was introduced, I think by Kevin again, to Seth Godin’s blog, and I was hooked as a reader and inspired as a writer. So that’s how a blog can help.
So on October 12, 2007, the LifeVesting site was launched. Five years into it, this is post number 780. Through a wide variety of ideas, rants, thinking-by-writing, and a few pictures along the way, the central theme remains the same: Your life can be better tomorrow than it is today. You can create your future, solve problems, impact eternity, and really live today.
This was never intended to be just a blog site, and I’m excited about new plans that are coming. Soon, Lord willing, I will be developing the “web site” side of this ministry in which we offer a newly-rewritten LifeVesting book, other books and media, and live and online seminars. In addition to that, we are already working on a web site for The LifeVesting Group, our professional counseling and coaching ministry. More on that very soon.
But today we celebrate. Or at least I do, and you get to peer in. In thinking about what I could share in terms of a “best of” or “most popular,” I found a plug-in that helps me know how often different posts have been shared on Facebook, Twitter, or Google-Plus by you, the readers. There could be many reasons why somebody clicks on a post or page, but only one reason they would share it – it must have meant something to them and they wanted others to see it as well.
So here’s a countdown of the top 11 most-shared posts over the past five years (there was a tie for 10th). Please click on a few of these – maybe you can see what the excitement was all about. (Of course, feel free to share them again!) [click to continue…]
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When the burdens overwhelm me
And the floods begin to rise
When I see the circumstances
Through lonely, helpless eyes,
There’s a place to go for refuge
And a place to be restored.
And when the storm has passed away,
I’ll be stronger than before.
It’s a place called Higher Ground. David referred to it as a “rock that is higher than I” (Psalm 61:1). “Take me there when my heart is overwhelmed,” he prayed.
Growing up on the Gulf Coast, it was fairly common to hear small craft advisories and warnings of approaching storms or hurricanes in which people in “low‑lying areas” are warned to move to higher ground. The danger for them is that the storm can literally overwhelm them.
In Psalm 61, David finds himself in a situation in which he is under such pressure of heart that he doesn’t think he can deal with it by himself. He’s in a “low-lying area” spiritually and circumstantially. Can you relate? [click to continue…]
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The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine; he has his seasons of darkness and of storm. . . The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope. (C. H. Spurgeon)
In East Tennessee a mother suffers a broken leg and a devastated heart as a tornado claims the life of her baby.
In West Alabama a couple hears a noise and opens the front door of their home. Seconds later, there is no more home, and no more couple.
123 tornadoes, so I hear, in one day. The death toll at this point: 319.
Meanwhile, on the same day, in East Texas a spiritual champion and one of the most respected leaders of his generation collides with destiny in the form of a tractor trailer.
And as the world reels and the grieving begins in earnest, a rude reminder comes collecting – the winds blow and the rains fall on the just and the unjust, and none of us has any guarantee of tomorrow.
Does that anger you? Me, too.
Does it seem unfair? I get that. Why do tornados never seem to level prisons?
We can huff on our high horse all we want, but guess what? Neither you nor I will change the fact that life is unfairly short and at times unbearably hard.
Is that God’s fault? I’m sure we’ll get our dose of that from the usual sources. How come nobody ever “blames” God when money’s in the bank, gas is cheap and the ocean is calm? [click to continue…]
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It’s a famous scene in the movie “City Slickers.” Curley, the cowboy character played by Jack Palance, says to Billy Midlife-Crisis-Angst Crystal:
“You city folk, you worry about a lot of [stuff]… You all come up here about the same age, same problems. Spend about 50 weeks a year getting’ knots in your rope and then you think two weeks up here will untie ‘em for ya’. And none of you get it. Do you know what the secret of life is?”
“No, what?” says Crystal.
“This,” Curley says, holding up one finger.
“Your finger?”
“One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean [nothing].”
“That’s great, but… what’s the one thing?”
“That’s what you gotta figure out.”
Tough times have a way of bringing out complicated questions. Ever since Cain killed Abel, or Job’s friends made a “sympathy” visit, people have responded to adversity by haggling and hand-wringing over the deep, often-unanswerable questions in life. Questions like, “Why is this happening to me?” or “Who’s responsible for that?”
During times like that, we all need somebody who can again bring us back to consciousness. [click to continue…]
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Ever have this happen in school? You study most of the night for your 8:00 history class. You’re ready with the names, dates, big themes and theories. You show up loaded for historic bear… only to discover your history exam isn’t until next week.
Meanwhile, in your 9:00 chemistry class…
Oh… crap… Tell me I didn’t just study for the wrong test.
I did. And maybe you have, too.
You see, for years I’ve been studying for the Midterm Patience Exam. It’s become something of a byword in Christian circles, if not a bad joke: [click to continue…]
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Years ago I led a high-school junior to Christ with the promise that He would make her life easier and her circumstances better.
He didn’t.
A few months later she wrote something to this effect in a letter to me: “Why is it that all this trouble started after I became a Christian? Before I was saved, I never had this kind of trouble.” How would you respond?
Following the tragic and untimely death of his son, a grieving father looked directly at me and said, “God is punishing me for not taking my boy to church.” What would you tell him?
Ever since Cain killed Abel, and Job lost nearly everything dear to him, the universal question of the race has been, “Why?” [click to continue…]
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(Note: I make no claims to be a prophet, so I write this with a bit of fear and trembling. But I believe a day of restoration and change is coming to a significant number people worldwide. Pardon the timing, but it has little-to-nothing to do with the upcoming elections. I haven’t had a stirring in my spirit on this level in more than 10 years. For reasons I’ll explain next week, all I know to call it is the day of the Second House. Make no mistake about it – these are heady, often stressful times. Things that can be shaken will be, so that the things that can’t be shaken will remain. But those who hear God’s call, trust God’s heart, and courageously obey God’s direction will enter into a season, like Israel, when their latter glory will be greater than the former. This post and the next one will serve as an introduction to that.)
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It was January 3, 1993 – more than 15 years ago – and it remains the greatest comeback in NFL history. At halftime the Buffalo Bills, their starting quarterback injured, trailed the Houston Oilers with mighty quarterback Warren Moon by a score of 35-3 in an American Conference playoff game. Backup Frank Reich led the team to a stunning upset. The score: 41-38.
Most of us aren’t football players, professional or otherwise. But we all experience adversity when, like the Bills, our backs are pressed against the wall. Sometimes we’re beyond distress; we’re beaten. These times of adversity almost always involve losses of some kind:
LifeVesting? Designing your future? Ha! To quote the pained psalmist in slavery, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” (Psalm 137:4). [click to continue…]
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Passion is in. I was reminded of that today as I finished the latest chapter of the book that Kaye, my sister-in-law, and I are working on together.
Passion is a cool word, and you’re cool if you use it in a sentence. Extra points if your face is filled with passion when you use “passion” in the aforesaid sentence.
Tony Robbins ends all the sessions in his famous audio series with it. “Live with passion!” he says. Sure beats the alternative. (Die with boredom?) Anyway…
There’s a huge college and young adult ministry called Passion that has been a driving force for worship influences, discipleship and evangelism for more than a decade now. Even the name connects with something that people sense a yearning for.
“Passions” is the name of a daytime drama, and passion.com is a sex-based dating service. Same word; different meaning entirely.
Sports fans talk about a passion for the game, or a passion for winning. Talk to a Cardinals, Red Sox, or Yankees fan on opening day. Hang out in a barbecue or beer joint in Birmingham around Thanksgiving weekend. Or watch Dale Jr. do – well, just about anything – and you’ll see passion.
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