We live in a casual culture. Men leave hats on when they enter buildings. People who formerly would have been greeted with, “Hello Mr. and Mrs. So and So,” are now greeted with, “Hey Guys. Sup?” Hugging is done everywhere by everyone—no matter how casual or new the relationship. (Well, not so much since COVID.) I do not see a […]
The following will get you out of trouble before you get into it. Robert Frost remarked wisely, “Good fences make good neighbors.” Proverbs 23:10 warns against moving ancient boundary stones. In Dare to Discipline James Dobson writes about the importance of boundary setting for raising children. Make sure that you have appropriate and firm boundaries in place. You will be […]
…of sorts… This past week I finished reading (listening to) Adam Grant’s book Give and Take. It’s not a new book, but it was new to me. The subtitle is Why Helping Others Drives Our Success. Grant begins with a very compelling discussion about who is most likely to succeed in life: givers, takers or matchers. There is a great […]
My mother liked straight pictures. When I painted for her through the years, the worst part of the job was rehanging all the pictures. We had to measure. Mark. Compare the mark to the next picture. Re-measure. Hang. Put the level on it. Take it back down. Re-measure again. Try a new nail over 1/8th of an inch. Hang. Move […]
The less time you spend trying to be what you are not, and even more so, the less energy you spend forcing your congregation to be what it is not, the better. Don’t underestimate the significance of this insight. God gives some gifts to all people. He does not give all gifts to all people. He has dealt you some […]
As a pastor somewhere, somehow you have gotten stuck. Maybe you could never quite get the sermon you were working on to come together. Maybe there is a project that hasn’t quite gotten off the ground. Maybe you have not quite hit a stride in a particular area of ministry. Try turning things upside down. For instance, if you have […]
Pastors are notorious for being lone rangers. They are, unfortunately, notorious for being narcissistic. We fall far too easily into the sinfully silly notion that we are the show; we are not. That it is about us; it is not. We must WORK at the recognition that we are in the ministry together with lots of other people. We must […]
Plan to stick with this for a while. Being a pastor is a complicated Calling. The more trips you make around the block the more effective you should be—as long as you don’t always go around the same block in the same way! Serving as a pastor is one of those things that is more art than science. Rome wasn’t […]
Never let anyone or anything steal your joy. This is significant day in and day out. You are a child of the Most High God! You have the hosts of heaven helping you and the gates of heaven waiting for you. Your sins, faults and failures are washed clean. God is with you and for you. Of course, you also […]
I heard it twice this week. Once from “the left.” Once from “the right.” Both on news shows.* “No pun intended.” Here is what is odd. For both of them the pun was intended. It was scripted, crafted, prepared, maybe even tele-prompted. If that is not intended, what is? It was a blatant falsehood—from both sides, both of which claim […]