by Travis Runion
Let me challenge you to do something different this Father’s Day. Rather than sitting back and waiting to receive the gifts, praise, and attention FROM your kids, why not spend a few moments yourself preparing some gifts and words of blessing FOR your kids?
Read Moreby Josh Pedersen
Have you ever suffered loss? Have you endured something being taken or removed from you that was not any choice of your own? Have you ever experienced the painful cutting and removal of a part of yourself through a situation that is totally out of your control?
I can’t help but think that, if you were a plant, that is exactly what it is like to be “pruned”. I imagine for a plant, it is pretty painful to have the gardener or “vinedresser” come with a knife and cut you… remove a piece of you and take it away. Pruning is a painful cutting and removal of something that the plant itself has zero control or say in.
Read Moreby Ed Sweeny
I once heard it said that “the only thing for certain is that nothing stays the same.” I think that’s mostly true. Thankfully, seasons do change. Summer will soon give way to fall…and before we know it, we will find ourselves longing for spring to return again.
Life tends to work the same way. Seasons change as time passes. Babies start walking, young children start going to school, teenagers start driving, and then leave home for college, eventually starting new families of their own. We leave one job and find another. We move to new and different towns. Sometimes we endure divorce, or the loss of a child. Broken relationships, especially with close friends and family, can change the season quite quickly. We cannot avoid change or transition, as much as we may try.
Read Moreby Travis Runion
There are moments that happen in life when you know you are experiencing something remarkable. You can feel it deep in your soul. Your senses come alive and you get that electric chill followed by goosebumps. Last week during football practice was one of those moments. I had a great opportunity to glorify God but missed it.
Read Moreby Ed Sweeny
Some of you remember watching Star Wars for the first time in the late 1970’s. I loved it, and was captivated by the adventure, the excitement, and the storyline of an epic battle being fought in multiple dimensions. It was pure good versus evil, and anyone caught up in the magic was swept away by the narrative of the the light side struggling with the dark side. Seeing Princess Leia projected as a hologram from R2D2 is forever etched in my memory, as well as her famous words, “Help me, Obi-wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.” We didn’t fully understand then how everything would be connected. But as time went on, the story line unfolded and things began to make sense.
Read Moreby Travis Runion
Maybe you’ve had one of these humbling moments lately. I was driving with my two boys to football conditioning on a six lane highway. Some knucklehead Andretti wannabe zips around me and recklessly squeezes into the narrow gap between me and the car to my right. I am immediately indignant at the recklessness and disrespectfulness and contemplate how I would get justice if I had the opportunity. To my joy, another red traffic light stops the offender and allows me to catch up behind him. I look over at my boys and state, “Excuse me but I’m going to be ugly.”
Read Moreby Travis Runion
Father’s Day is a great time for dads to be intentional as well as introspective. It’s like your birthday. Close friends or spouses might forget, but it is very rare that you are not aware of “your day” even weeks or months away. So let’s leverage our internal awareness for good. Let’s take time this week to assess and remind ourselves as fathers what we are called to do and be. I am calling it a Leadership Check In. This is not intended as a judgmental beat down but as an encouraging kick in the pants to get out there and “Be the man” or in this case “be the dad.”
Read Moreby Ed Sweeny
Today begins one of my favorite weeks of the year. I have always tried to spend time this week following Jesus’ path from Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the cross on Good Friday, then celebrating his resurrection on Easter Sunday morning.
He experienced deep pain and suffering as a man, so he could identify with each of us in our darkest moments in life. And he experienced death on a cross and resurrection as our Savior, so we could have new life in him. On the cross, Jesus did for us what we could never have done on our own. I am so thankful!
Read Moreby Travis Runion
The benefits of Spiritual Training don’t end in this life. The Apostle Paul tells Timothy that “training for godliness” has lasting benefits “in this life and the life to come.” What more motivation do we need? Every minute we spend towards our Spiritual Training continues to reap benefits for eternity. I’m no financial expert, but that seems like a pretty good return. So, let’s discuss how we can get “Spiritually Fit.” The approach to Spiritual Fitness is actually not that different from how you approach Physical Fitness.
Read Moreby Ed Sweeny
I have talked to many men over the last few days with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic. All of us are wrestling with the common questions about what to do, where to go, what to cancel, and how to manage work and business. All of us are watching the crisis unfold daily on the news, online, and in our own communities. All of us are learning to be vigilant and careful in this new season of life amid a global pandemic. All of us are striving to have a balanced approach to this new normal, living wisely out of calm faith and not out of fear.
Read Moreby Travis Runion
Men, we are about a week away from Valentine’s Day. I don’t know how you and your spouse view this event, but it can be the source of an overwhelming amount of “drama” if not managed well. So, I want to encourage you as men to step up and take the lead this year. I also want to present a few ideas and insights that could help you win the day and maybe the entire year.
Read Moreby Travis Runion
The third Sunday every January is our annual “Quitter’s Day.” This is the day that most Americans decide to quit on their New Year’s Resolutions and goals.
Are you holding strong to your goals and resolutions or have you already bailed on them? I want to encourage you that there are some key areas of life so important that we can’t afford to ignore, neglect or quit on them.
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