Recently I mentioned that each of us is a child of God.  But that means more than just getting gifts and behaving like kids.  In fact, it comes with a whole lot of responsibility.  When we become a child of God, we actually become heirs to God’s Kingdom. Think about what that means. It’s a big deal to be an heir.  It means we need to have responsibility.  It also means we need to understand how things work.  A CEO can’t run an organization if he or she doesn’t understand the basics of the business.  Presidents can’t “run” a government if they don’t know the laws and troubles facing their land. Paul in a letter to the Galatians says we “are no longer a slave but God’s own child.  And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.” Slaves didn’t know how to...

I’m a little tired today.  Life has been busy.  I’m getting married in 2 weeks.  And I just finished moving all my stuff into the house I bought a couple of weeks ago.  But that’s not why I’m tired today. I’m tired because I only got 6 hours of sleep.  And for a change it wasn’t because I was working.  Instead, I had the chance to hear Natalie Grant in concert (at the Festival of the Bells). The venue was in a smaller, rural town that’s been hit very hard by the recession.  I’m sure she could have played in other, bigger venues.  Probably with a lot more energetic of an audience.  But she encouraged a lot of people last night.  In a town that hasn’t had a lot of good news recently. Now I don’t go to a lot of concerts, but every time I go to a Christian concert...

Have you ever asked yourself what God’s will is for your life?  I don’t know if this is an American thing or it’s something all believers struggle with.  (I’d be curious to hear what our non-American R3blog readers think.)  At any rate, at least in this country we spend much of our time searching for God’s will for our lives. Culturally we see the world through something like Manifest Destiny.  Where we feel that there’s a purpose to our lives.  Where there’s something specific to take from live.  This is such a strong current of our culture that understanding “our purpose” is something I focus on professionally.  Almost every worker is searching for the meaning of their work.  And our search for our Meaning to Work has become a billion dollar industry.  (Of which...

We are consumed and paralyzed with fear. We buy fire insurance, life insurance, health insurance, flood insurance, pest insurance.  We have people inspect our homes for radon, formaldehyde, and lead.  We child proof our electrical outlets, put rails at the steps, install security systems, and use floodlights to illuminate the dark.  Some people even go so far as to literally put their kid on a leash. Wow.  Is life really that bad?  Kid’s on a leash? But that’s where we find ourselves.  And there’s few things more tragic than living life filled with fear. Of course there’s no question that terrible things may happen to you.  It happens every day.  Your house may burn down, you may get cancer, your kid might be kidnapped.  These things strike terror into our hearts, because we...

I’m in the midst of moving.  Which means it’s time to pack up my old stuff.  There’s nothing like the thought of carrying heavy boxes to make you really evaluate something’s worth!  I’ve been pretty ruthless so far in getting rid of things.  And one of the underlying questions I ask is simply, “is it broken.”  The last thing I want to do is take the effort to pack something that’s broken. Let’s face it, we all value things that work.  This is why we throw away VCR’s and 8 track players instead of keeping them forever.  Something eventually comes along that works better, so we jump onto the bandwagon.  The very idea that we should keep something that is broken seems strange to us. But to consider brokenness as a good thing?  Well that’s just crazy talk. Yet when...