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When you attend the funeral of an elderly loved one, there are certain things missing:

• There aren’t any familiar eyes to look into

• No frail hands to hold

• And no old stories to reminisce about.

If you’ve every lost someone you love, this episode is for you.  You’ll dwell on the memory of the past, but be encouraged in the hope of the future.

A good friend of mine met me for coffee, and as far as I knew, he had everything going for him.

A good job, with solid benefits. His wife and daughter had just moved into a new house, and things were going really well. Which is why is threw me off when he told me he almost lost his job.

As he listed off all the things he almost lost, he left off one thing. But what he did about that is even better.

I thought he had everything going before we had coffee. But now I know he’s on the right track, regardless of what happens at his job.

What did he leave off? Listen to find out, but I hope you would be able to leave it off of the list of things you would lose if you found yourself in the same situation.

My confession about the CIA torture report, Sean Palmer’s insights on race, culture, and the church, and last week’s candid discussion about sexual identity and faith all shared one thing in common.

When grace is extended, there are two parts to it:

1. Receiving it (we have the option to reject it), and
2. Accepting it (we have the option to keep from internalizing the grace).

This episode is for you if you’ve ever felt awkward, indebted, and grateful when someone you’ve hurt has extended grace to you.

So, what’s the hardest thing to accept about grace? Click play to find out.

It all started at a dinner party.

We had just spent that past few minutes talking about each other's background, and really seemed to connect. I had already introduced him to my wife, Loretta, and we were already thinking about having dinner with them sometime.

But then I was caught off guard.

We talked about kids and all sorts of things...and then he introduced me to his partner.

Maybe that caught you off guard...or maybe it didn't

As society has an on-going discussion about homosexuality and sexual identity, rarely is the church silent. But when she speaks, she's lacking grace, gentleness, and respect.

In this episode, I talk about where we've gone wrong, as a church, but how we can do right, as individuals. You'll discover that the body of Christ is beautiful and varied, and that we can enage culture graciously, gentlty, and respectfully.

The new sexual revolution isn't going away, and you as an individual should know why you stand where you stand, and how to translate that into every day life.

It doesn't matter if you're as liberal as Rachel Held Evans (who has written some good stuff), or as conservative as the Southern Baptist Convention: When you put a face to an "issue", it quickly becomes personal:

• About as personal as a savior who accepted me as I was, instead of waiting for me to change.
• About as personal as a savior who gave his life for me, on the prospect that I would choose to become one of the "whosoever believes in him."

Listen to this episode with your walls down, and your hearts open.

That hard part is that you couldn’t purchase these resources, even if you tried. This isn’t just a list of books or conferences you should attend to improve your marriage and rock your relationship with your wife.

Photo credit: Andre Freitas

These are three resources that are available to everyone; but only a few take full advantage of them all.

Don’t let fate determine the outcome of your marriage. You have the power to make a difference with your wife, starting today.

The radio is playing, the munchkins are looking out the window, and the next thing I know I hear two small voices coming from the backseat singing worship songs: “Our God is awesome, he can move mountains, keep me in the valley, hide me from rain…”

Photo credit: Morgan Sessions

That’s not something our family will learn on their own. As husbands and fathers, one of our primary responsibilities is to lead our family in faith.

But that doesn’t just happen on accident.

It requires being intentional.

It requires consistently modeling our faith.

In this episode, I share three ways to practice your faith with your family. They’re easy, fun, and will give you one more reason to spend time together.

After you listen, don’t just say, “That was good!” and leave it at that. Take action, immediately, and give your family the opportunity to grow in their faith.

Click here to listen.

How do you practice your faith with your family?

P.s. Here are two of my family’s favorite worship songs…enjoy!

BJ Putnam – Our Father

Charles Jenkins – Our God Is Awesome

Or at least, we generally don’t talk about them, especially in public. So in honor of all the husbands who struggle with what I’m about to share, here we go!

During this time of year, I’ve got all sorts of celebrations on my plate:

• Valentines Day,
• My wife’s birthday
• Our wedding anniversary
• Mother’s day

Getting gifts or planning celebrations has never been my forte.

In fact, it’s been a pain point for me, because of my insecurities.

In this episode, we’ll share a few birthday “fails,” along with some significant celebration “wins.”

It turns out, my insecurities come more from me than anything else, and I finally learn (and hopefully enlighten all the husbands out there) why all of these celebrations are so important to my wife.

1. As a husband, take the lead in your relationship and share how you feel with your wife. It may take a few conversations, and possibly open up the door to clear things up that have been brewing beneath the surface.
2. Know that your insecurities have as much to do with you as they do with your wife. For me, it was from false expectations I set for myself.
3. Agree to creating lasting memories for celebrations, instead of big gifts where the novelty fades after time.

What insecurities do you deal with as a husband?

I mean come across a picture, a new thought, a quote, that stopped you in your tracks?

“The way we treat our children directly impacts what they believe about themselves” – Ariadne Brill

But it wasn’t the quote itself that caused me to pause. Rather, it was the questions that came out of it:

How do I treat my kids?What am I telling them about themselves?

There are so many questions that come to mind as a parent, but questions that address our influence on our children are the most important.

What do I want my children to believe about themselves?

I don’t know why, but I feel like I’ve been doing a terrible job of balancing work and family…you know, the “work/life balance” thing.

• I’m not putting my phone down when I come home for the day.
• I’m thinking about other projects while I’m at dinner with my family.
• I’m consistently staying late at work, even though there’s always one more thing to do.

I asked people I trusted; people who were further along in their journey than me, whose families were intact, and careers were going well.

The answer wasn’t anything I was expecting. I was hoping for a silver bullet, or an easy three step plan to implement…but that’s not what they gave me.

Listen to this episode, and you’ll figure it out (I promise).

The past few months have been challenging to say the least:

• The police shootings in St. Louis and New York have reignited heated discussions about race.
• The CIA released a report that detailed their torture of terror suspects, which caused me to pause and evaluate my faith.
• And just a few days ago, ISIS executed 21 Egyptian Christians.

And as Christians, we need to be able to talk about it intelligently. The problem is that if our Christian leaders (pastors, ministers, etc.,) don’t address these issues, then media pundits will determine the narrative.

I believe the Bible has something to say about every one of those issues, and that’s what we discuss this episode.

I’ve read Sean Palmer’s blog for over a year now, and I’m thrilled to bring him on the show!

He shares how to address difficult cultural issues in a way that stays true to the Gospel without alienating either side.

Seriously…reading his blog will reveal your leanings (political or otherwise) and call you back to the Gospel.