Even though Oliver Burkeman is not a Christian, he has written a deeply Christian book. His book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, book could be summarized as saying, "You're not God!!" or as Moses wrote thousands of years ago, "Teach us to number our days, That we may present to You [God] a heart…
Why churches begin with the best of intentions to make disciples only to drift off course, falling back in pragmatic or programmatic ways of thinking? Probably because there's a culture problem argues author Brandon Guindon. Guindon points out that strategies for making disciples don't set the culture of the church. It's the other way around:…
Productivity guru Stephen Covey popularized a very compelling illustration about prioritization in his book, First Things First, using a jar to represent a person's life. Typically, we haphazardly jam our lives to the full, placing in big rocks (our highest priorities), pebbles (middling priorities), and sand (things we don't really care about) in a jumbled…
Carey Nieuwhof has written At Your Best to help knowledge workers do what they are best at, at their best time. He first chronicles the difficulties that many people have today being overworked, overcommitted, and overstressed. He then confronts the lies we tell ourselves about our life: "To revive some semblance of hope amid all…
Christians and Jews have long recognized the Song of Songs to be one of the most mysterious books of the Bible. One medieval Jewish commentary, Saadia, claimed the book was like a lock whose keys had been lost. When reading the book, a host of questions arise like, "How 'literally' should the book be taken?"…
If bad things happen to believers, they will immediately begin thinking about God. His hand is the most effective at impressing upon us the need for patience and calm thinking. If Joseph kept thinking about how he was betrayed by his brothers, he could have never forgiven them. Instead, he turned toward the Lord, which…
1. Be humble. It is an honor to be in a leadership position. Your team is counting on you to make the right decisions. 2. Don’t act like you know everything. You don’t. The team knows that. Ask smart questions. 3. Listen. Ask for advice and heed it. 4. Treat people with respect. Regardless of rank, everyone is…
On the first official date with my (now) wife, we had finished eating at a restaurant and decided to drive around the city we were in. I didn’t really know the city that well so we just headed off in the direction of the downtown area. Once downtown, I made a turn and just started…
The crisis of leadership in our churches, businesses and governments is largely due to this one dilemma: men have been given power, but they are unprepared to handle it. The time of ruling is a tremendous test of character, for the king will be sorely tested to his influence in humility, for the benefit of…
The servant of God, who is encouraged by all the Scriptures that speak of God's care for him, will add the passages which teach that all people are under God's power. His power will either encourage their minds or curb their wickedness, preventing them from causing harm. It is the Lord who gives favor, not…