This blog helps pastors and church leaders foster spiritual discernment and maintain a healthy work-life balance, offering reflections and practical advice to lead with clarity and purpose rooted in a strong connection with God.
January is a unique time of year. On the one hand, the winter season is often slower paced. A winter storm provided extra sleep today for us as the school system enacted a two hour delay to clear the roads. My kids do not participate in winter spo...
It is the season of Advent. During this season, we generally follow the lectionary passages in our worship on Sunday mornings. This year, we are sticking with the Gospel passage each week. However, I usually take time during the week to study the ...
James 4 is perhaps one of the strongest passages in scripture regarding discernment. The beginning verses highlight a church in conflict. While these verses may seem disconnected from the later part of the chapter, they provide the basis for James...
I have always thought of wisdom as coming from God. But in my sermon preparation this week, I encountered a new dynamic in my understanding of wisdom. James speaks of wisdom from above (heaven) and wisdom from below. In James 3, he describes the b...
Today is a sermon preparation day for me. I have been hanging out in a coffee shop most of the day working on a sermon for November 30. The last Sunday in November is the first Sunday of Advent. The passage is Mark 13:24-37. It is not an easy text...
We are all familiar with the infamous story of Jesus feeding the large crowd with only five loaves of bread and two fish. (Mark 6:41–44 NIV) Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves....
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