I love birthdays, but not for the reasons you might think. It's not the gifts or the cake, but the intentional show of love to someone that tells them we're happy they're alive. On one of my birthdays, my condition had caused me to need a wheelchair and as my youngest son climbed easily into lap, wrapping his arms around me, something dawned on me. Were it not for my condition, I wouldn't have been in proximity to him so he could easily climb and sit. In our lives, we always have a choice in what we see in situations. Listen in to today's episode as I hopefully guide you into a different way to see your life. 

Have you ever just wanted to punch a hole into the Earth and scream down into it? No? Just me? Alrighty then. I don't know much, but I'd be willing to bet that we've all been in a place where it felt like all the cards were stacked against us. Sometimes life just feels really unfair. But what if we have it all wrong? Listen in to today's episode. 

What started as an exercise in discipline evolved into a practice of worship. For so many years I called myself a Christian. I would have told you that I was a follower of Christ, that I loved God and Jesus, and I think I really thought I did. Yet it is interesting to me that I didn’t even so much as apply myself to the true study of God’s word to learn more about who He is. My faith was built on what I’d been told about Him. In today's episode, I talk through what it means to truly love someone and what actions occur as a result. Click the image to listen!

Have you ever been so sure of someone or something and the good they/it could do that you were willing to stand on the rooftops and scream their/its name. Stand on the street holding a sign and have a willingness to tell others and hype them up so they believe in whomever or whatever you support. We do this with all sorts of things that have positively impacted our lives. But do we take the same time and apply the same enthusiasm in our relationship with God? Tune in to today's episode!

Have you ever had someone make unfair and false assumptions about the motivation behind your decisions? What about your own unfair and false assumptions about the motivation behind someone else's decisions? We've all done it and I believe we do this quite often in our relationship with God. But how can any of really know why God does any of the things He does? In today's episode, this is exactly what I'm talking about through the lens of Job. Click below to listen.

When I first began my pursuit for a diagnosis, I kept running into doctor's offices with this incredible bubble of hope that surely this visit would be the one that cracked the code to why I'd gotten so sick. But, one closed door after another soon revealed to me one of the greatest gifts that chronic illness could provide. Tune in to today's episode as I reveal the gift that closed doors gave me. 

Can we honestly look at our lives and answer that the work of the Lord is the most important thing in our lives? How easy would it be for others to know you are a servant of the King from an outside looking in glance at your social media feed, your interactions with others, the conversations you speak in a whisper, the way you spend those idle hours of the day, the way you respond when no one of note is watching? Could they tell?

For the one who places their trust in the Lord and depends on Him for everything, the resolution to their struggles will always be victory. There is no defeat for those that put all their eggs in one basket of God being Lord of their life. There will be ups and downs and battles that feel completely lost, but God will always be with the one who retreats to Him.

Romans 3:23 is pretty straight and to the point. Lest you think you’re an okay person because you haven’t committed an atrocity like murder, let me remind us that every single ounce of sin makes us fall short and unworthy. What should God give us? I’ll let you decide what that answer should be. But, praise God, what He should give us and what He has given us are two different things and separated as far as the East is to the West. 

"But the life focused on Him is one rife with peace and joy through unimaginable suffering. It is one with eyes set on the prize. The seemingly zealous Christian that won’t stop talking about Jesus is doing so for your benefit; with the hope that the people they love might know what a life full to the brim is like. The real question is that if you are a Believer, why aren’t you talking about Him more?"