How often do we journey over, across, and through thresholds in our lives? In my life, I have crossed from infancy to childhood, teenage years, college, adult, husband, father, pastor, and so forth. A simple place to start is with the dictionary definition of threshold: “the sill of a doorway.the entrance to a house or building.any place or point of entering or beginning” Often the transition from one place to…
Read MoreYou Never Know What Will Happen!
I have not written a blog post for over six weeks. Change has come to our household, and seemingly it has come quite suddenly. In a month, my wife’s mother passed away, her father was diagnosed with dementia and needed around-the-clock care, and as a result, my wife has retired from her hospital chaplaincy position. In the last few weeks, we have mostly lived out of my in-law’s house as…
Read MoreDaily Habits
I read this statement recently: 90% of success is found in your daily habits. This reminder helps me understand that I cannot go through life, blaming others for my situation. It is good to have clarity and come to realize that I do have control over my life. I have no control over much of what happens, but I do have control over my attitude! I also have control over the daily practices that…
Read MoreSmall Steps lead to Big Changes
When you are certain that there needs to be a change in your life, and you are ready to commit yourself to make the change, your natural inclination is to go big! You decide to take bold steps and go for massive dreams and make the major changes that are needed. That is the usual way it works. What follows next is as predictable as the sun rising in the…
Read MoreAre You Desperate?
There have been several times in my life that I have been desperate. Two of those times involved swimming pools. I was about 9 or 10 years old when I went to a swimming pool in a public park. I did not know how to swim but enjoyed splashing around in the shallow end. Upon arriving at the pool, one of my friends said I wonder how warm the pool…
Read MoreTime For A Mid-Course Correction
It may seem a little early to bring up the subject. Usually, people do not talk about mid-course corrections until several months into a new year. First, let me define the term: “a navigational correction made in the course of a ship, airplane, rocket, or space vehicle at some point between the beginning and end of the journey.” I fly several times a year. I leave point A…
Read MoreA Lesson Learned on a Boat with Jesus
I recently spent some time talking to folks from our congregations about an event in the life of Jesus and His disciples. After a full day of healing and ministering, Jesus got in a boat to head to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Now the Sea of Galilee is not a sea but a lake. It is located over 600 feet below sea…
Read MoreChange is coming!
I went for what may be my last walk of the year outdoors. It is nearly 60 degrees here in central Indiana on the 4th of December. The normal for us would be in the low 40-degree range. Today it is balmy for the first week of December. Well, I must get ready for tonight a storm comes in, and in a matter of a few hours, the…
Read MoreOne small step…
Are there some things in your life that need changing? Who doesn’t have need for some change in their lives? If you let your mind wander you can think of a couple of things you would really like to see change or be changed in your life. Though our New Year’s resolutions are but distant memories of our once good intentions, they are mostly forgotten and little reflected upon. We seemed…
Read MoreAnd Here I learned to Know of Truth…
Spending several days on a college campus this past weekend brought back a flood of memories. There is this mystical drawing power of places upon our hearts and minds. The campus represents much more than brick and mortar. For you it may be a homestead, a high school, your home church and any other number of places. Their ability to impact our emotions and memories is why they mean so…
Read More