Category Archives: Failure

Dealing with Those Who Disappoint

A defining characteristic of living in a fallen world is dealing with people who have disappointed you.  When we are around people who have disappointed us in one way or the other, a myriad of emotions are sent into frenzy by our brain.  Particularly if these are people we also happen to love or onceContinue reading “Dealing with Those Who Disappoint”

My Advice for Responding to Criticism (Don’t)

My Advice for Responding to Criticism (Don’t) If you are a leader you are going to be criticized.  Period.  And if you are a significant leader you are going to be severely criticized.  It honestly doesn’t matter if you are a good leader or not.  That is just how it is.  People criticize leaders.  AlwaysContinue reading “My Advice for Responding to Criticism (Don’t)”

Christian Leaders and Celebrity Culture

Today I read about the “crash and burn” of another well-known Mega-church pastor.  It is truly heartbreaking.  We have all watched this movie before.  We cry every time.  I hurt for the spouse and family of the pastor, the congregation and the many people who are just a little further from Jesus than they were beforeContinue reading “Christian Leaders and Celebrity Culture”

Have You Lost Everything? (get a second opinion)

During some rough seas in my extended family a few years back, I awakened one morning to a single idea; “Strengthen what remains.” I felt it to be a direct Word to folks like Melissa and me who were navigating rough seas. Sometimes in the midst of great loss, we are deluded into thinking “we have lost everything”Continue reading “Have You Lost Everything? (get a second opinion)”

Getting Back Up Again (A Nefarious Shetland)

  A Nefarious Shetland (Pinckneyville, Illinois, circa 1971) When I was about ten, we lived three miles north of Pinckneyville on Highway 127 in the tiny parsonage of the Oak Grove Baptist Church.  It was 1971 and my father served as the pastor, worship director, secretary, youth director, custodian, bus driver and exterminator of the smallContinue reading “Getting Back Up Again (A Nefarious Shetland)”

Good Friday Reminds Us (that it is not the end of the world)

Good Friday Reminds Us (that it is not the end of the world) Have you ever had a Good Friday moment?  I certainly have. When God had called me into ordained ministry in the spring of 1989, it changed the trajectory of my life. By the fall I was enrolled in seminary and had movedContinue reading “Good Friday Reminds Us (that it is not the end of the world)”