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My Current Heart Stirrings: Men’s Ministry

By Culture, Encouragement, Life Plan, Marriage, Parenting

I did men’s ministry for many years before I went into vocational ministry. Recently I felt led to address the young men in our church. One Saturday morning, I invited men aged 35 and under to join me as I shared some thoughts with them. Basically I said to them what I wish had been said to me at that age. The response from the guys who attended has been amazing. They want more.

In the process of planning and praying for this event, God did something to my heart. I’m still processing all that means, but I know it involves being more intentional addressing concerns I have for what I see as a need for more godly men to lead in their homes, communities and churches.

This week I received this email.

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July 1, 2011
Love0

The Danger of the Mundane…And How to Fight It…

By Change, Encouragement, Leadership, Life Plan, Marriage

A danger exists even in completing the things you have to do as a routine…

  • Routine assignments at work…
  • Routine in relationships…
  • Routine in physical activities…
  • Routine in daily quiet times…
  • Routine in weekly calendaring…

I call it the danger of the mundane…

The things we always do, as good as those things may be, can become so routine that they begin to be seen as more of a drag than a pleasure.

Some of the dangers of the mundane include:

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June 29, 2011
Love0

Vacation Preferences

By Culture, Family

We are on a few days vacation this week. We came with another couple to the San Francisco area. Cheryl and I have traveled extensively, and we’ve been to California, but never to this part of the state. Even only after our first full day we love this place! It was a gorgeous day and we explored the famous Lombard Street, Fisherman’s Wharf, and walked every inch of Alcatraz today. In addition, I ran 6 miles along the bay this morning. We came back to our hotel exhausted.

This is not an atypical day for Cheryl and me on vacation. On every vacation we are never still, seeing everything we can in the time we are away, and we often go home more tired than when we left. That’s how we do “vacation”.

How do you do it?

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June 24, 2011
Love0

5 Questions to Quickly Assess the Health of the Marriage

By Church, Family, Marriage

I don’t do much marriage counseling these days. I have a master’s in counseling and spent a few years almost exclusively doing counseling, but the size of the church and my role leading and developing the staff takes more of my time now. As a pastor, knowing that my opportunity is limited in offering on-going counseling, I have learned that it is important to assess the health of the marriage early in the counseling process if I have any hopes of making progress.

Here is one method I found helpful. I ask each spouse to answer this short questionnaire separately:

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June 14, 2011
Love0

How to Break God’s Heart

By Encouragement, God, Parenting

Okay, let me be honest…I’m not sure the title of this post is theologically sound. I don’t know if we can “break God’s heart”. His heart appears fairly strong to me. He carries the weight of the world on His shoulders, so I’m assuming He can handle most anything we throw His way. I did want you to read the post though, and I do think there is an illustration here that is important for us to consider.

Our youngest son Nate is studying in Europe this summer. (You can read more about his experiences HERE.) For the last couple of years, he has attended school 8 hours away, so the distance is not so much an issue, although it is summer and I wish he were home. The problem for me now is the way we ended our instant messaging today. He will not have Internet for the next 5 days, so I’ll not have any correspondance from him for nearly a week.

I realize 5 days is a short time for many. I sometimes only talk to my mother once a week, but I’m new at this empty nesting. Five days seems like forever right now.

But, there’s a bigger issue that came to my mind…

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June 6, 2011
Love0
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