This Sunday, Christ followers all over the world will be celebrating Palm Sunday. It is one of the many great celebrations on the church calendar. It signifies a moment of transition where we move from a reflective state of lent to anticipating the events of Passion Week leading to the triumph of Jesus over sin […]
Observing Palm Sunday Read More »
This Wednesday is the day Christians around the world celebrate as Ash Wednesday. It is the beginning point of the season of Lent. But what exactly is Ash Wednesday? When I was growing up, our church didn’t do much with Ash Wednesday but I knew many of my Catholic friends did by the mark of
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I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio and attended Mahoning United Methodist Church. My Mom and Dad sang in the choir, Mom assisted as church treasurer and Dad would lead various classes and assumed leadership roles. And much to my sister and my chagrin, we were usually one of the last ones to leave each Sunday!
Benedictions of Blessing; Doxologies of Praise Read More »
Are you self aware? Sometimes I am but I know at times I am not and I can definitely develop blind spots. Self-awareness is a popular concept in mental health. Dictionary.com defines self-awareness in this way: conscious knowledge of one’s own character, feelings, motives, and desires. In the previous post, we began to explore the Prayer of Examen and we stopped at Step 3 of the
A Spiritual Wellness Exam – Part 2 Read More »
If we want to maintain our health, it is important to include regular wellness examinations. These exams are more proactive in nature and a physician can help us make healthy choices as well as mitigate any risk factors. What about our spiritual health? Is there a wellness exam we can participate in where we are
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Its that time of year again. New Years Resolutions! Have you made any yet? Common resolutions that tend to come out this time of year are: to lose weight, exercise more, eat better, spend more time with family… That’s what is cool about starting a new year, its an opportunity to do a little inventory
Resolutions for the Soul Read More »
Doesn’t the title of this post seem strange? Is it really necessary to categorize gratitude as a discipline? Shouldn’t gratitude be a natural, heartfelt response toward what we have been blessed with or experienced? In some respects, that is true. Webster defines gratitude as being in a “state of thanksgiving”. Often we are placed in
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Are we there yet? Have you ever been on a trip and heard that phrase uttered? Maybe you expressed it yourself! Or how about this one: “pull over or else”? Hypothetically, the driver of the car may hear this request from frustrated travel companions if they neglected rest stops for the pursuit of completing the
The Value of Rest Stops Read More »
This is the final installment of this series on Entering the Retreat House. So far we have described the various aspects of the Retreat House. We enter the house with our lives and our experiences. The house is built on a foundation of community. We are not alone, we enter in the community of the
Entering the Retreat House – Part 4 Read More »
Frozen pizza or fresh baked? Nothing wrong with a good frozen pizza especially as you walk through the grocery store late at night and you can have pizza in 30 minutes! But no matter how good a frozen pizza might be, there is nothing like a fresh pizza made from qualities ingredients made by expert
Entering the Retreat House – Part 3 Read More »
Do you like to receive a gift? I don’t know about you, but I can feel my pulse speed up a little when I see a box wrapped up with a bow on top with my name on it! Webster defines a gift as “something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation”. A
Entering the Retreat House – Part 2 Read More »
In a previous post, we explored the discipline of retreat as an important way to learn to live like Jesus. If you are like me, you might be asking a question like: what do we do on a retreat? Even though retreat isn’t to be a heavily scheduled event, there is that part of me and maybe
Entering the Retreat House – Part 1 Read More »
Do you have a favorite place to “get away from it all”? A place where you can pull back from the busyness of life and “recharge your batteries”? If there is a mountain or a beach involved, that would be a favorite place for me. The only problem I have with getting away from it
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Can you think of a time when you were impacted by the tone of someone’s voice? What was it about the tone that was communicated? I can remember a moment in High School when my trigonometry teacher stopped me in the hallway while I was on my way to another class. The first couple of
Recognizing God’s Voice Read More »
Social distancing is terminology we have all become familiar with. It is a necessary strategy to take to help reduce the spread of Covid-19. Though this can help with Covid-19, it also presents challenges emotionally and spiritually. We are social creatures. We were created by our Creator for connection. Thankfully, an activity that is still
Walking with God: A Social Distancing Strategy Read More »
Have you ever tried to do something like play a musical instrument, act in a play, or participate in a sport and struggle with how difficult it is to be really good at it? Or maybe you have some natural ability and it takes you so far but then you plateau and cannot seem to
Practice Righteousness Read More »
Do you ever struggle with your walk with God? Does it seem at times like you hit a spot where you feel close and other times God seems so distant? I certainly have over the years. Underneath the struggle to know God more deeply, I sense something at the depth of my soul like the
When I was a kid, one of my favorite shows was “To Tell the Truth”. If you are too young to know what I am talking about, below is an episode from 1967 in case you are curious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0sdv_DXB_g This was a game show where a panel of 4 celebrities would ask questions of 3
Happy New Year! Have you ever set some resolutions as you start a new year, only to have them fizzle out by February? I know I have. So why bother? Yes, January 1 is just another day in the calendar but as a marker in time it is positioned as a starting point or to
Wendy and I love Thanksgiving. We intentionally hold off decorating for Christmas so we make sure we don’t miss this season. We put up some decorations with a Thanksgiving theme just as a reminder. I have some wonderful memories growing up around Thanksgiving. My mom would host Thanksgiving family meal with her parents and her
The holiday season is well underway. As I drive around town, decorating for the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas season is evident at homes, store fronts and places of business. I learned a new word recently; festoon. Festoon can either mean a decorative chain or can just mean to adorn or decorate. One of the monthly
Festooning the Lord’s Prayer Read More »
Jesus described the good news as “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” He meant that the kingdom is not only when we get to heaven, but it is available to us now. He even encourages us to pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. We experience the goodness
Did you ever have anyone tell you “practice makes perfect” when you were growing up? Perhaps it was your mom encouraging you to keep working at your piano lessons. Or it was teacher or coach trying to help you be the best you could be. Whatever the situation, the message was the same, if we were
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