Struggling to Pray? Remember THIS
One thing I love about being a dad is teaching my son about God in a way that he will understand. After following Christ for a while we tend to take things for granted or make things needlessly complicated. But it’s impossible to do this with small children. Prayer is one area that we make…
Life Direction Questions: Knowing and Finding What You Seek
What are you looking for? What are you looking at? These two vision questions can tell you almost everything you need to know about the direction and quality of your life. “What are you looking for?” tells you what you hope for in the future. “What are you looking at?” tells you how you are…
Teach Us to Pray
Prayer is often difficult. It is hard to make time for it, hard to stay focused, and hard to know what to say. When Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, he gave them the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:1-4). Another prayer tool I have learned is called the ACTS model. ACTS stands…
The Telos of Fight Club
Today is the movie Fight Club’s 25th anniversary. Fight Club is a movies that I never get tired of watching. It’s perspective on masculinity, consumerism, and purpose in life challenges me think more deeply. There are many things about this film that I could write about (and probably will in the future), but today I…
Rethinking Your Narrative: Unlocking Potential
In his book Mind Your Mindset, Michael Hyatt’s main idea is that “[Many] challenges people face— in fact, nearly all of them— are essentially (1) based in the brain and (2) evident in the stories we tell ourselves about reality.” The stories we tell ourselves inform how we see the world and act within it,…
The Case Against “Should”
“Should” is a weird word. We all use it multiple times a day, yet I struggle to define it. According to dictionary.com, “should” is an auxiliary verb meaning “must; ought (used to indicate duty, propriety, or expediency).” It can also be used to express an expectation: “They should be here soon,” or express a correction:…
Chariots of Fire: Why Do You Run?
Last week I discussed how people are either driven by love or fear. According to John Lennon, “There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love.” Today, I wanted to show how these motives are lived out. I will examine Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell from the movie Chariots of Fire. Harold Abrahams There are three…
Love or Fear
I came across a quote by John Lennon that said, “There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love.” I don’t fully agree with his conclusion, but I still think that this observation is profound. Consider, why do people work hard at their job? Some work hard because they love what they do and are…
How to Change the World
My theory is that the best way to change the world is to live your life as if your own sin is the biggest problem in the world. I want to examine wisdom from different times, cultures, and faith traditions that are all getting at this same point. One caveat before we dive in: I…
What Drives an Adventure Stories?
What compels a hero to act? As far as I can tell, the hero in an adventure story tends to be motivated by one or a combination of these three objectives: This came to mind when thinking about the motivations of the characters in The Hobbit and the characters from Lord of the Rings. Bilbo…
What is Work?
What is the essence of what work? What are we actually doing when we do stuff? Is it simply the stuff we have to do to keep living or is it something more? Pastor Tim Keller defines work as, “Rearranging the raw materials of a particular domain to draw out its potential for the flourishing…
Decluttering God’s Way
The last couple years I have been getting into the minimalism movement. The Minimalists put out great content, Joshua Becker has many thoughtful insights on his website, and Marie Kondo has a series on Netflix that shows how tidying up can legitimately change lives. All of these people and more have given me practical steps…
Worship or Mission
I want everything I do in life to be either worship or mission. Many people have a narrow definition of these words, so let me define my terms. Worship essentially means treating God like he is a big deal. It consists in both praising God and receiving his gifts with joy and thanksgiving. You can…
Two Rules for Life
The other day I imagined coaching my son’s youth sports team and I wondered what team rules would resonate with small children. The two rules that came to mind are listen well and do your best. As I pondered these more, I realized that you can get pretty far in life by living by these…
A Formula to Discern Your Calling(s)
Here are three fill-in-the-blank statements to help you discern your purpose: “I want to live in a world where . . . so that . . . therefore, I . . .” “I want to live in a world where . . .” This statement is about desire: what do I want? It should be…
7 Habits of Mindful and Resilient People
We live in some crazy times. Through the internet we have access to almost infinite information. We can know what is happening anywhere in the world with just a few clicks. Everyday there are new podcasts, TV series, and MUST READ NEWS. Not to mention the seemingly endless stream of emails, text messages, snapchats, tweets,…
Identity Crisis
“When work is your identity, success goes to your head, and failure goes to your heart.” Pastor Tim Keller. I think the world tries to define people’s value in one of three ways: Performance- You are what you do. (Isn’t this what Batman teaches us?) Possessions- You are what you have. Reputation- You are what…
Parents and Sports
Although I am no longer in South Africa I’m going to continue to use this blog as a vessel from which I can throw my thoughts into cyberspace. The topic of discussion for today is parents and sports, specifically how parents should approach sports with their kids. I have both seen and experienced for myself…
Cultural Eulogy 