“So what to do? Two Things, it seems to me. At least two. Use up each day. Fill it overflowing with good. Deliberately enjoy it. Two, begin now. Mend a fractured friendship, mail an overdue letter, repair a broken heart, lay aside a grievance, act on a noble impulse. As we all know, “The night [...]
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“Where others see but the dawn coming over the hill, I see the soul of God shouting for joy.” — William Blake What do you see with each new day? Problems to solve, People to criticize, Places to Avoid, or Life slipping away? What do you think God sees each day? People who will learn to [...]
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Impressive Title don’t you think? I bet it got your attention, because most people hunger for a Life Mission that profound and transforming, but really haven’t found one that captures their imagination or especially their heart. A Brewed Awakening is about trying to ask the questions that awaken this mission within, providing helpful advice to [...]
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By age 16 the average person receives 173,000 negative messages about themselves (29.6 per day). On the other hand the same person will receive 16,000 positive messages about themselves (2.7 per day). – Life Studies Institute A positive attitude is like a fire: Unless you continue to add fuel, it goes out. — from Positive [...]
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Each day present a once in a lifetime opportunity to become a new person, to walk a new path, to make new discoveries about yourself and others, and to act in ways never before tried or tested. Yet most of us see Monday Mornings as the beginning of another string of meaningless days and routines [...]
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“When story and behavior are consistent, we relax; when story and behavior are inconsistent, we get tense. We have a deep psychological need for our stories and behaviors to be consistent. We need to be able to trust the story, because it’s the lens through which we see reality. We will go to great lengths [...]
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“How would your life be different if…You walked away from gossip and verbal defamation? Let today be the day…You speak only the good you know of other people and encourage others to do the same.” ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free Here are 7 ways to stop gossip 1. Don’t repeat something you don’t [...]
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“You can be the most beautiful person in the world and everybody sees light and rainbows when they look at you, but if you yourself don’t know it, all of that doesn’t even matter. Every second that you spend on doubting your worth, every moment that you use to criticize yourself; is a second of [...]
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“To the people who love you, you are beautiful already. This is not because they’re blind to your shortcomings but because they so clearly see your soul. Your shortcomings then dim by comparison. The people who care about you are willing to let you be imperfect and beautiful, too.” ― Victoria Moran The kind of people around [...]
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“Words can be twisted into any shape. Promises can be made to lull the heart and seduce the soul. In the final analysis, words mean nothing. They are labels we give things in an effort to wrap our puny little brains around their underlying natures, when ninety-nine percent of the time the totality of the [...]
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“In the 1950s kids lost their innocence. They were liberated from their parents by well-paying jobs, cars, and lyrics in music that gave rise to a new term —the generation gap. In the 1960s, kids lost their authority. It was a decade of protest—church, state, and parents were all called into question and found wanting. [...]
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“You may have noticed that the books you really love are bound together by a secret thread. You know very well what is the common quality that makes you love them, though you cannot put it into words: but most of your friends do not see it at all, and often wonder why, liking this, [...]
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“The critical question for our generation—and for every generation— is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures [...]
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“I don’t wonder anymore what I’ll tell God when I go to heaven when we sit in the chairs under the tree, outside the city……..I’ll tell these things to God, and he’ll laugh, I think and he’ll remind me of the parts I forgot, the parts that were his favorite. We’ll sit and remember my [...]
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“I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.” ― A.W. Tozer Do you expect and look forward to new experience, new challenges and new friendships in [...]
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O God, I beg two favors from you; Let me have them before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Where is the LORD?” And if [...]
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“The atheist can’t find God for the same reason that a thief can’t find a policeman.” Unknown ”Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7 There is an old story about unrealistic expectations that goes something like this. During a [...]
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This I Believe I believe I need a shepherd. Because I am sometimes timid and other times overconfident, because I often don’t know the best path yet pretend I do, because I rush into dead ends or lead others into hazardous places, because my brightest ideas are seamed with darkness, because the things I crave [...]
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In a time of contentious political attack ads, religious groups condemning one another, and fear of losing control at an all time high, John Wesley’s words over 2 centuries ago resonate with the human soul. Truth always has. “In Essentials we have Unity. In Non-Essentials we have Liberty. In all things we have Charity.” ~ John [...]
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“The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God. Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life, blindfold, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what [...]
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“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build [...]
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This is one of the best descriptions of Christian Discipleship I’ve ever read! Be Inspired! Discipleship—being willing to move on every level, leaving the old life behind, following Jesus wherever he may lead, sitting at his feet so to speak, taking in not only what he says but who he is on the deepest level [...]
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Suppose there was a king….a good king…who ruled over his land with both justice and mercy. Everyone knew him to be a good-hearted king, but he was strong on people who didn’t respect each other. His view of the law was that it was to protect everyone from everyone, and to reflect well on [...]
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The Cross enforces three truths: about ourselves, about God, and about Jesus Christ. 1. Our Sin must be extremely horrible. Nothing reveals the gravity of sin like the Cross. For ultimately what sent Christ there was neither the greed of Judas, nor the envy of the priests, nor the vacillating cowardice [...]
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Here are some of my favorite quotes about how precious and how wonderful the Church can and should be. I hope it stimulates some deeper thinking about your relationship to the Church and why you feel the way you do. Famous Church Quotes The True Church can never fail. For it is based upon [...]
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On a quiet Christmas Morning I sit here quietly in my office and reflect on what the last several weeks have meant to me and particularly to the people I care about. I understand the battle that rages within the Christmas story for the hearts and minds of humanity. We are immersed in a world [...]
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“We want a “religious” leader, not a king! We want someone to save our souls, not rule our world! Or, if we want a king, someone to take charge of our world, what we want is someone to implement the policies we already embrace, just as Jesus’s contemporaries did. But if Christians don’t get Jesus [...]
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Are Christians better people because they are Christian? When we become Christians do we become better than other people? It’s certainly the accusation most non-Christians level at the church community. We are perceived as arrogant, holier-than-thou people who shake their finger at the world with a condescending tone rather than washing feet and offering grace. [...]
READ MORE »The Deer’s Cry by Shaun Davey and Rita Connolly I arise today through the strength of heaven Light of sun, radiance of moon Splendor of fire, speed of lightning Swiftness of wind, depth of the sea Stability of earth, firmness of rock I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me God’s eye to look [...]
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“We fear the search for who we are. Perhaps because we’re afraid that having located our true souls, we might not like ourselves that much. So, we shrink to step across the threshold to our inner selves and invite God in. … But no matter how we love the busy world of our relationships, the [...]
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The Screwtape Letters were written by CS Lewis as a fictional (I hope) account of a Senior Demon teaching a Junior Demon (wormwood) in the ways of destroying the human spirit. In the passage the Patient (a human being) has had some thoughts of a spiritual kind including the ideas of repentence. What does this [...]
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Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you. FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, Beyond Good and Evil Apathy and evil. The two work hand in hand. They are the same, really…. Evil wills it. Apathy allows [...]
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To what extent are we a Christian community? According to William Willimon, Bishop of the Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church, We are Christian to the extent that we conform to and are confronted by the Word of God. In Romans 12, Paul advises his readers not to be conformed to the pattern of [...]
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Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less. Rick Warren “When it comes to change, there are three seasons of timing: (1)People change when they hurt enough that they have to, (2) when they learn enough that they want to, and (3) when they receive enough that [...]
READ MORE »The Methodists must take heed to their doctrine, their experience, their practice, and their discipline. If they attend to their doctrines only, they will make the people antinomians; if to the experimental part of religion only, they will make them enthusiasts; if to the practical part only, they will make them Pharisees; and if they [...]
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“I was always a good adventurer. I was never afraid of risks. I always had a good philosophy about risks. The only risk is to waste your life, so that when you die, you say, “Oh, I wish I had done this.” I did everything I wanted to do, and I continue to.” -Francis Ford [...]
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Dr. Steve Gedon