Ever get to the end of a day feeling empty, despite all the stuff you’ve checked off your to-do list? Ever wonder if you are pursuing accomplishment, productiveness, and efficiency at the cost of feeling truly alive? If you feel more like a machine than a human being, maybe it's time for you to find your way back. We live in an era of unprecedented industrial conveniences and technological advances, yet these do not come without a cost. Our lives are more of a high-speed blur than ever. The tools we invented in order to free ourselves from labor have become our masters. Just try Continue Reading
This Could Transform Your Relationships
It was once part of common courtesy, but nowadays we are too distracted by a million responsibilities, too casual in our interactions to realize we often ignore this most important thing. We fail to see the people we love. By “see,” I don’t just mean having our eyeballs briefly register that someone is present. I mean “see” as Native American and other indigenous cultures mean it. As in, focusing intentionally on the person-hood of another. Remember the scene in Dances with Wolves where the warrior shouts his heartfelt goodbye to the white man he has come to know and trust? I see Continue Reading
Why Destiny Isn’t a Dealbreaker
Have you heard the terms “purpose” and “destiny” a few too many times? How about “vision” or “passion?” Chances are, you hang out in evangelical/Charismatic Christian circles. In our search for personal significance, in our rejection of the American Dream as the end-all, in our bible-based belief that God has specific plans for each of us, we can swing a little too far over – and land in the glamour ministry zone. Does God do big stuff through ordinary, committed Christians? You bet he does. Has he ordained good works for each of us to do from before the earth started spinning? Continue Reading
Burning Bright Without Burning Out
He was coming around a corner on the mountain path, bleating sheep following, when he stopped short and stared. How could a plant be on fire, yet not be swallowed up by the blaze? God used the burning bush to get Moses’ attention, but it also shows us the cure for the great malady of our time. In a culture addicted to busyness and an over-the-top work ethic, burn-out happens to far too many of us. God sets our hearts on fire with a holy flame that does not consume us. But this paradox breaks down when it comes to false gods. They will eat us alive, one nibble at a time. Anything and Continue Reading