When painful circumstances strike, we all have the same initial impulse. We’ve got to fix it. We have to end the problem. We think pain is something we need to escape, as quickly as possible. Job’s Circumstances The story of Job is not about God rescuing Job from tragic circumstances. Tough as it may be to deal with, God authorized those awful circumstances. The Book of Job is not about ease of situation or salvation from setting. It is about... Read more
It happens to all of us. Life is flying by, swirling around us at a million miles an hour. At its best, life is exciting and full of thrills. At its worst, it is monotonous and full of the dull pain of being overwhelmed. It is not uncommon to just feel off. To feel as if we are slightly off our axis. We call it ‘being in a funk’. And it can be more than boring – it can be... Read more
When I was a kid, there was one sound that sent me jumping to my feet and out the door. The sound of The Ice Cream Truck. That sing-song little jingle was music to my ears. Like a Pavlovian dog, my impulses carried me to the sweet promise of tasty treats. My favorite kind of ice cream was this large popsicle-type thing that had a bunch of different colors swirling down it. As you made your way through, the colors... Read more
I’ve been searching for Narnia my whole life. When I was a kid, my parents introduced me to C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia series. It was fascinating. And I was hooked. I opened every closet I found, searching for another world. Found It?! This week, we started a job at a university here in New York. The campus is on Wall Street and Broadway. During the last four days, we have been in intensive training sessions with our student leaders.... Read more
We have been trying to get pregnant for the better part of eighteen months. To say it has been frustrating is an understatement. The process has been full of pain. We lost a baby eight months ago in the early weeks of a pregnancy. And that’s just the worst of it. Every month, we go through the cycle. Hope and anticipation… uncertainty, disappointment. And then it all starts over again. We are both learning a lot through this process. The... Read more
With maxims like ‘what’s in it for me’, ‘I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine’, and ‘quid pro quo’, our society is becoming more and more transactional. Every relationship, whether working, platonic, or romantic, bears this mark. In serving others, we carefully calculate what we can ask in return. We take the deposit with an expectation of future withdrawal. Even in a world increasingly concerned with genuineness, we find nothing wrong with a mutually beneficial agreement. You like my... Read more
Any given day, there is a lot swirling inside of us. There are a few things that make us human; a handful of unavoidable realities we must interact with in order to live a sane life. Generally speaking, we can sort the two dominant arenas of human experience into two categories: thought and feeling. As we process experience and information, make arguments and take positions, these are the two primary functions of the human consciousness. But what is the relationship... Read more
From the time we are very young, we start wrestling with the idea of ownership. Toddlers start grabbing things in the toy isle and proclaiming them ‘Mine!’ Siblings squabble over sharing the specific gifts designated for them. Teens turn their rooms into fortresses of solitude and demand permission be granted before access is given. It starts the day we are born. We are looking to discover our place in this world. We are looking to take ownership of our lives.... Read more
As one of the three things we can control, choosing an attitude is a vital part of what makes us who we are. When we evaluate what is most important to us, we often look at the influence of others or the effects of our circumstances. The choices we make, however, are what truly matter in the determining of our character. At the end of the day, we have to own the responsibility of who we are. Our circumstances can influence... Read more
Relationships are essential to human living. We find (or inherit) people who become close to us. We care for one another, work to develop trust, and grow through the values of community. But there is one cancer that threatens it all. Selfishness. When relationship is at its worst this is what it boils down to: each party trying to get their own way, using the other(s) as a means to that end. Keeping Score Relationships too often devolve into... Read more
Victorious Living
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