We live in a more globally connected world than ever before, but despite that fact, friendships seem harder to come by. True and trustworthy friends seem to be more and more difficult to find. Why is this? What has made friendship rarer and more valuable in today’s day and age? In order to understand why […]
Culture Clash
Before communication and connection exploded with the Internet and social media, most groups of people used to be more monocultural, where their beliefs and values were far more similar within their families, neighborhoods, and communities. Boy have times changed! What once seemed like a large world just several decades ago, now feels like the smallest […]
Walking Through Divorce
I almost didn’t write this article. Either because it felt too scary or vulnerable or messy and I wasn’t sure I was willing to put myself out there to that extent. At times my past or the failure of my marriage has felt like a glass house that people get to look into from the outside […]
Feedback
We’ve all experienced giving and receiving feedback in just about every way possible, from the mean and hurtful to the complimentary and life-giving. But despite the wide sweeping spectrum we’ve received feedback on in its many forms, part of our biggest means to find growth will lie in the importance and value we place on […]
Life Rolls On
Imagine you’re an up-and-coming surfer, gaining more and more national attention with each surf contest you enter. You have sponsorships coming in regularly, endorsements follow, and success is your common trait. Then, one day, it all comes crashing down. This is the story of a man who changed an entire demographic. While surfing one day, […]
Ready, Set, Pray
On June 19th of 2000, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Texas public schools were no longer allowed to begin football games with a student organized prayer over a PA system. This was the first ruling against public prayer before football games. But in high schools and intermediate schools all around the nation it is […]
ENGAGING WITH GOD
With our busy get-up-and-go lifestyles, it might seem more difficult than ever to find time for God or where we can fully make time for the essential aspects of the Christian life like prayer and Bible reading. Yes, like working out or eating healthy, it comes down to the priority and importance of those things […]
GOD & POLITICS
The presidential race was nothing short of a disaster, not because of who won, but because I’ve never seen politics like this in my lifetime. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both brought out the worst of anything they could dig up on the other. It was rarely, if at all, about policy or demeanor. There […]
UNCOMMON UNITY
Community, or lack thereof, is an epidemic sweeping our nation. We’ve replaced face-to-face conversations with text messages and quality time in the company of other people with time on Facebook. The contrast between these things cannot be overstated. There is a generation of Millennials who seem to value relationships less than previous generations and who […]
THE MISTAKEN IDENTITY OF CONFIDENCE
I have a strong sense of confidence in the Lord and trust the abilities that God has given me. Some people have unfortunately mistaken my confidence for pridefulness and thought they should correct me. Chastising a person for self-assurance is a common practice, because we don’t want to be prideful or boastful in our own […]