What if the prize is in the PROCESS?
What if the reward is on the ROUTE?
What if the win is in the WORK?
We’re in Part 4 of New Year, Less Me, and this week our message centers around the idea that no matter season we’re in, God has a purpose that we can live out while we’re there. So instead of looking ahead to what’s next, our job is to find ways to honor God in there here and now of life.
As St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whatever you do, do ALL to the glory of God.”
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We’re at the start of the new year and it’s about that time to look back and ask “what happened to those resolutions?” In this month’s podcast, I’m talking about how to overcome life’s PASSION KILLERS - those things that quench our passion and keep us from fulfilling our goals and resolutions.
Click HERE to check out the podcast and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the podcast and RATE/REVIEW it as well. Doing so helps us spread the word even more!
Read MoreIf you ask any priest what his wish for his church would be, he’d probably say SPIRITUAL GROWTH. And I don’t disagree. But what does that look like?
In this week’s message, I talk about 4 things I as a priest wish for all the members of my church in this coming year. It’s more than just read the Bible and say your prayers. These are four things that I believe God wants to use deepen your faith and bring you closer to His perfect plan for your life.
Read More"The world needs you to STOP BEING BORING..."
"You got a heartbeat? That means it’s time to do something!"
"We were made to be awesome!"
(find Kid President online at kidpresident.com, or on twitter @iamkidpresident)
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Imagine baking a cake and only using half of the prescribed ingredients. Imagine building a car and using only half of the needed parts. Imagine building a house and only using half of the lumber needed to build the house properly. No one in their right mind would ever expect that cake, or that car, or that house to turn out right…right?
But what if we do that with our Christian faith? What if we have the same approach toward being a follower of Jesus? What if we leave out half of the equation?
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Recently I found some old pictures of myself from my younger days – my pre-priesthood/pre-marriage days. Nothing is more fun than looking through those old pictures (especially with your kids who think the world wasn’t created until they came into being) and remembering what life was life back in the good days of the late 1990s (aka, the Stone Ages for all you younger pups).
Things were so different back then. Life was slower and simpler. We used to "chat" with our mouths, not our keyboards. We used to play outside and drink from the hose and we all lived to tell about it. We used to read newspapers and magazines and books! And get this…back in the 90s, MTV actually played music!!!!
Times certainly have changed quite a bit since then. But as much as the world has changed in 20 years, the thing that struck me the most from those old pictures is how much I HAD CHANGED.
Read MoreIt's the finale of WanderLOST and in this week's message, we talk about the one thing we can do to keep the message in front of us at all times.
We need DAILY time to RENEW our minds. Without it, we'll be in danger of SETTLING for what we merely WANT vs STRIVING for what we truly VALUE.
Read More“For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do... Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” Romans 7:15, 20
Part 2 in our latest series, WanderLOST, and this week we're looking at the fundamental problem of all humanity: Due to sin, what we naturally want is in conflict with what we ultimately want.
What does that mean and how do we solve it? Check out the message above and see for yourself.
Read MoreThe Well is BACK and started with a BANG! Kicked off a fantastic new series yesterday called WanderLOST where we seek to answer the question: WHAT DO YOU WANT?
What do you want in 2018? What do you want in your career? Your relationships? Life in general? What do YOU want?
That's the first question. Now the second question is this: ARE YOU SURE? Are you sure that what you want is what you REALLY want?
Did you ever consider that your pursuit of what you WANT might be standing in the way of your attainment of what you REALLY WANT???
Read More"Everyone ends up somewhere, but not everywhere ends up somewhere on purpose."
That one thought has always driven me to be very intentional about the way I live my life and the way I approach each new year.
In this week's message, I share about three "turning points" that we all need to make internally if we hope to get the most out of the new year and end up some place on purpose.
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This is a guest post from Minas Nehad – an office manager living and working in Cairo, Egypt. Minas works with a Coptic NGO that works to help the poor in countries throughout Africa and Asia.
As a graduate with high ambitions, I began my career with a large telecommunications company where I enjoyed the corporate life. I moved between several departments, gaining a lot of experience & real success
Then one day I realized what a nonsense cycle I am running in. A lot of effort… a lot of time… a lot of dedication… for what exactly?
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God has a plan for your life. None of us are called to this life for no reason. Some of us are called to a family life or priestly life. What we need is to find God’s plan and live accordingly. It is not our will to live in this world but its God’s plan for us to live in this world. One effective way to observe what God has planned for your life is to see the skills that you have been blessed with such as singing, acting, preaching, caring others, nursing others, being a doctor, nurse, engineer, politicians, priests etc.
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Imagine getting on a sailboat, sailing for 25 years and then stopping all of a sudden. You've forgotten where you came from… you have no idea where you are… and you don’t have a clue where you’re going. All this time you’ve sailed aimlessly with no clear direction and now it’s too late to do anything about it.
Unfortunately, that’s life for too many of us. In a generation where distractions couldn't be more numerous, this is where many of us find ourselves.
But that is NOT what God wants for us. That’s because unlike us, God is intentional. Everything He does is intentional and done with purpose. Everything.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18)
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One week into 2014 and by now, statistics say that 60% of New Year’s resolutions have already been abandoned. And by the end of January, that total will reach almost 90%! WOW!
But it doesn’t have to be that way – at least not for you. You don’t have to be part of the 90%. You can make 2014 different. Believe me, I struggle with New Year’s resolutions just as much as the next person and I don’t claim to have any secret tricks to make it any easier. But I have discovered some helpful hints throughout the years that have helped me stay on track.
The most important concept/idea to keep in mind is this (this is a good one to post above your desk or somewhere prominent):
We all end up somewhere, but few people end up somewhere on purpose.
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A familiar scenario for most people: the alarm clock goes off. You set it early this morning because you have so much to do and you really need to get a head start on the day.
You know the importance of starting your day with some quiet time with God and you’ve seen the fruit of that when you’ve been consistent with it. You also made that resolution to exercise and you really want to get back into shape. Add on top of that the ever-increasing demands of your job and your need to get in early and get some work done before the chaos of the day ensues. Bottom line: YOU NEED TO GET UP EARLY TODAY.
But despite all those reasons, 9 out of 10 times you end up doing the same thing…SNOOZE!
And you continue to hit the snooze button – every 9 minutes if your clock is like mine – the whole time calculating in your head what you can cut out of your morning routine in order to get some more rest (if I don’t eat breakfast I can sleep for another 3.5 minutes). Sound familiar?
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Life is about relationships, not accomplishments.
That’s another one of those life changing sentences that I read several years ago that changed me and really helped me get my life in focus. I am about as “Type A” a personality as you can find. I am hard-working. I am driven. I take initiative and I take pride in getting the job done.
But one of the flaws that come with such a personality (one of the FEW flaws let me add) is that I tend to focus more on accomplishments at the expense of relationships. I am not a relational person by nature. But one of the things that I’ve learned over the years is that when you get to the end of your life – see yesterday’s post if you didn’t already – it isn’t about accomplishments. It’s about relationships.
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As promised, each week I will dedicate one or two blog posts to the idea of “Living on Purpose, not by Accident.” Why? Because we all end up somewhere, but few people end up somewhere on purpose.”
Imagine this scene. You’re in a big church sanctuary about to attend one of the most important occasions in your life. You’re surrounded by hundreds of people that you know well – family, friends, colleagues, neighbors – anyone who you consider an important part of your life. The church is packed but there’s no talking – only sounds of sniffling. There’s a big box in the front and everyone seems to be focused on that box. You know what’s in the box right???
YOU! This is your funeral and it’s about to begin. Here’s the question you need to answer today while you still can: WHAT DO YOU THINK PEOPLE WILL SAY ABOUT YOU?
What will your spouse say? What will your parents say? What will your friends say? What will your neighbors or co-workers say? What do you want them to say? How about God Himself – the True Judge – what do you think He’d want to say at the end of your life?
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Yesterday I spoke about the dilemma that many find themselves in these days – great intentions, but no results. We dream of getting our life in order (spiritually or physically or relationally or financially) but we soon discover that dreams alone are not enough to get the job done. So what is the answer? How do we do it?
One of the things that I’ve learned from living my entire life in the DC metro area – one of the most fast paced areas in the country – is that going faster and doing more is not the answer. The secret of success has nothing to do with being able to do more in less time or working harder. I am going to assume that you – like me – are a hard worker and you are trying your best. The issue isn’t lack of effort.
The issue is LACK OF FOCUS. Focus drives success.
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“Everyone ends up somewhere, but few people end up somewhere on purpose.”
That sentence changed my life several years ago. I read it in a book that spoke about living life intentionally and I’ve never forgotten it. It’s a powerful phrase. Everyone ends up somewhere, but few people end up somewhere on purpose.
We all have dreams - things we’d like to accomplish – whether personally or relationally or financially or whatever. For example, all of us aspire to one day be wealthy – not necessarily for materialistic reasons, but at least so that we can be stable and secure and have the ability to give to those in need.
We all dream of getting in shape. I doubt there are many people reading this blog that wouldn’t like to shed a few extra pounds and improve their health – not necessarily to the point of being a supermodel, but at least to the point where we don’t have to think of an excuse every time we are invited to go to the swimming pool!
You have a dream about what your marriage should look like. You have a dream about what your relationships should look like. Your career, your spiritual life, your future…WE ALL HAVE DREAMS!
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Let me make this clear right off the bat: I AM NOT A HIGH TECH GUY. I am actually anti-technology in a lot of ways. Even though I grew up in high tech northern VA (just outside of DC) and spent my college years majoring in Information Technology, I long for the days before technology messed up the world.
I miss the days of playing outside instead of playing online. I miss the days when we watched TV with antennas instead of satellites. I miss the days when cartoons were simple and innocent – a cat chases a mouse and everyone has a good time – as opposed to today having to figure out the difference between TV-G and TV-Y7FV.
But do you want to know what I miss most? I miss the days when the phrase “I talked to my friend today” actually meant you opened your mouth and spoke today. It had nothing to do with your fingers or your keyboard. I miss the days when life was simple and easy to figure out.
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