ENDEAVOR TO PERSEVERE

For the better part of 10 years, it was a little tag line at the end of every email I wrote, under my signature.   Do you remember when this was cool? It wasn't that long ago that most everyone had some sort of motto or message. Long before emojis and other logos.   Did I think it was cool? I don't know. I suppose.   I think I wondered if anyone would ever notice, or question it. Or better yet, that they would know what it meant or where it came from.   During the peak of my management career, I was receiving an average of 120 emails a day, and cranking out approximately 75 of my own. (But who's counting)   Let's be conservative...   Over a 10 year period, with an average of 48 weeks a year (I had a nice vacation package), and 75 emails a day, that's on the order of 180,000 emails generated by me.   Guess how many ever questioned my tag line, or knew what it referred to?   One.   Yes, one lone soul out there wa...

If you are like me, then getting into the Christmas spirit seems more difficult each year.   Yes, I am getting older, and sometimes find myself having to confront the fact that I am becoming what I never thought I would become....   Crotchety (never had to spell that before), a Killjoy, Old Fashioned.   But I am certainly within my right to blame the commercialism of the holidays, crowded malls, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Yellow Wednesday, and Santas in all shapes and sizes, and ages. Not to mention the new Christmas light thingy that projects images of colored snowflakes and such on houses, trees, and whatever else. I think it upsets me that those people took 6 minutes to put up lights, while it takes me the better part of a whole Saturday.   So, how does a guy like me finally get into the spirit of the season? Well, it goes like this....   This little church we serve in the south suburbs of Denver has a tradition that started several ago. I...

Has someone ever had a knack for passing along just the right thing to you, at just the right time? I have such a friend. She hold a very special place in my life, and has served as a great mentor for me over the last few years. She is full of wisdom, and her timing is impeccable. For a reason that God only knows, she gets me. This friend knows that I am going through a season of life right now that has the potential to especially “fly by.” It is a season when there is temptation to skip over, to hit the fast forward button. When I should be paying particular attention to the barrage of thoughts, commitments, assignments, and reflections, the tendency is just plow through it all under the premise of “let’s just get it done.” What follows below is a prayer that calls this “passing through.” While the context of this prayer is perhaps more about having patience with our growth, I see it as only helpful to apply the same thought for our daily journey through life. I want...

Welcome to my blog. Yes, after several years of aspiration, months of deliberation, and days of educating myself on the ins-and-outs of what such an endeavor is supposed to look like, feel like, and sound like… Here I am. I have set my expectations low, in that if even one person reads what I have to write, then it will have been worth it. But I am placing an incredible amount of trust in this voice inside of me, nudging me for a long, long time. It is a voice that rarely leaves me alone (actually never really leaves me alone). This voice has been telling me that I have stories to share, and insights to offer, and wisdom to impart. It has told me that I needed a platform. Why? Because I am especially gifted? Hardly. Because I have it all figured out and dialed in? Hardly. Because I have an illusion that everything I say will resonate loudly to everyone (or anyone)? Highly doubtful. In all humility, it just begins with the fact that I have been blessed. An...

As the old saying goes, you never know how life is going to sneak up on you. On a recent fateful day, it sure snuck up on me. I know this is a long story, but one I hope is worthy of your read. I didn’t see it coming.  But I am convinced this had to be a divine appointment, set in motion by a God who wanted me to see it… to hear it….to share it. I am getting better at seeing the opportunity in things. To take that extra time to listen, to learn, and to reflect on random but invaluable encounters which offer profound and timeless truths, especially in a time where the world seems so hopeless, so cruel, and so self-absorbed……. I needed this today. It began rather unassuming, and ordinary. I found myself at a horse ranch, some 75 miles northeast of Atlanta, Georgia. “Beautiful country,” I say to myself. I met a wonderful woman, as I was introducing my wife and daughter. We have come to see her facility, under the premise that my daughter might need a place to board a hor...

It has been on my mind and heart for quite a long time now to develop a blog. I felt as though I have given the gift of certain stories and encounters in my life which may be meaningful to share with others.  So, now that I have finally acted on the idea, it landed on me to resurrect this special (and somewhat spiritual) encounter in the early days of 2015.  The day was January 2 nd . Our family was in “recovery” mode from another busy, stressful, and joyful holiday season, and vacationing in southern California. What better place to recover than the beach. The encounter emerged rather innocently. The five of us walking out toward the ocean, wondering how we were going to find ways of entertaining ourselves. After all, for those as spoiled as us, we seem to constantly need something to entertain us. One of us…I can’t remember who…picked up an old, cracked yellow Frisbee. And then it happened. One after another, our family joined in. And, for almost 2 hours...