‘Who – as a matter of deep conviction and humility – will determine your worth, the value of your life on earth?’ One of my bookmarks carries a thought that has stayed with me throughout my years in leadership: “It doesn’t matter if the world knows, or sees or understands, the only applause we are meant to seek is that of nail-scarred hands.” Leaders are exposed to opportunities to generate applause. As public figures .

Is your self-image in balance?  As leaders we face persistent temptations and pressures designed to knock us out of balance.  Here is an uncomfortable and uncompromising question for you; what drives your self-image?  That is, what are the sources that you listen to each day that will ultimately determine the way you see yourself, value yourself and judge yourself?  Be brutally honest with yourself and make a list of those driving forces, those influential .

Two years ago I was confronted with the realization that I had been reading John 15 from a fundamentally flawed perspective.  Take a moment and read the first nine verses, and count the number of times the words ‘abide/remain’ and ‘fruit’ are used.  In most versions each are mentioned at least seven times in these nine short verses.  Clearly they are the focus of this text. From my perspective there was an inherent contradiction .

I was sitting on the beach during a family vacation in Belize, taking in the beauty of the Caribbean as it splashed its way onto the sandy shore. Children were playing along the shoreline, running to stay ahead of the waves as if chased by a ferocious beast. Some of it was play, but some was a real fear of the power of the incoming waves. Older kids had conquered that fear and were .

Our Position in the Presence of God – Mathew 27:46 Our third meditation on this text considers the emphasis, “why have you forsaken me?”  If we are honest, this is the version with which we most closely identify.  It is not just the forsakenness, or the fact that it is happening for some reason, or even that it comes from a loving God.  It is the fact that it is happening to me! The result .

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to spend a day working in a carpenter’s shop with Jesus? What would your day be like? I think Jesus would run his carpenter shop like every other carpenter shop.  He would not use any Holy Spirit power to extract a bent nail, or rely on miracles to plane and shape the wood.  The excellence of the products produced in his shop would not come because .

It has been nearly a month since I have blogged.  Honestly, I have been struggling with spiritual dryness that has left me with little to share.  I have been searching for a way to recover the passion and perspective I had at the start of the year when I made the bold commitment to be ‘all in’ for Christ. Last Sunday I found it. The words of a beautiful and simple song have provided .