Here are 10 lessons it took me years to understand:

1. If you have to impress the friend, he or she isn’t much of a friend.
2. “Just once” probably is a bigger deal than led to believe.
3. The sooner you decide to get your life headed in the right direction the more time you have to enjoy it.
4. There are few shortcuts to success.
5. Hard times come naturally in life…determine early to use them for God’s glory and to help others.
6. Kids grow up too fast. Enjoy them at each stage.
7. There is wisdom with age. Always be willing to learn from those who have lived and experienced more of life.
8. The longer you wait to forgive someone the longer it takes to heal your heart.
9. If you don’t act on what you feel led to do, because of fear or indecision, someone else will and you will miss the blessing.
10. More success in the world does not automatically bring more happiness, more success with the things that matter most does.

What are some lessons it took you a while to learn?

One of the most frequent “encouragements” I have heard from pastors to those that are sensing a call to full-time vocational ministry is:

Don’t do ministry if you can do anything else…

I have made it a practice never to give that advice to people seeking my counsel. That cliché sounds good, but I am not sure it is practical, helpful, or even completely true.

For years, I resisted a call to ministry, partly because of this advice. The simple fact was that I could do some things besides ministry. I had some success in business. In fact, at one point I was extremely successful in my field. In my own strength, I found I could do many things.

What I could never seem to do on my own was find contentment. Resisting God’s call on my life for vocational ministry took me down numerous career changes looking for that one thing I was “supposed” to do. It wasn’t until I surrendered to full-time vocational ministry that I discovered what I was “designed” to do. I never knew contentment in my work life until God was my employer.

My advice if you are truly called to ministry is to do ministry, even if you can do something else. Nothing provides peace and contentment in life like obedience to God’s call on your life. For more thoughts on the call to ministry, click HERE.

Are you running from a call upon your life? Are you resisting something God is calling you to do?

The contentment you are looking for in life may not be found until you obey.

Just saying…

I enjoyed meeting some of the people that I admire online this week at Cultivate Conference in Chicago. Names that appear bigger than life to me, because I enjoy their blogs and work so much, were up close and personal. I shook the hands of people like, Jon Acuff, Kem Meyer, Scott McClellan, Kent Shaffer, Tony Steward and Rhett Smith.

I think the humbling thing for me was the reminder that these are real people. I heard a couple of their stories. They have real stories too.

Sometimes I think we tend to forget that behind the bigger than life appearance a strong web presence gives someone are real people with real stories…and real problems and challenges to life.

That’s true for all of us…

That’s true for me….

The fact is that I blog a lot. (Some would say too much.) There may be the tendency to believe I know what I’m talking about sometimes….

…Sometimes I actually do…

…Many times its because I learned a lesson the hard way…

But with everyone that has an online presence, including in my case, it’s important to remember that the online presence may not be a complete picture of reality. We can seem to have it all together through our blogs…but behind the computer sits real people with real stories…and real problems and real challenges to life.

What’s your current problem or challenge?  Do you clean it up well online?

We did a series called Hot Topic at Grace Community Church where people could text in their biggest questions about God, the Bible, life, etc. One repeated question was on discerning the will of God. You can watch that message here:

I shop with my wife.  I get criticized often by other men that say I put pressure on them to live up to that standard with their own wives.  I explain that a shopping mall is not necessarily my preferred place to be on a Saturday, but I love my wife and I love spending time with her.  She likes to shop, so many Saturdays I find myself somewhere shopping with her.  My blog readership, according to my recent reader survey, is at least 50% women, so today I want to address you in this issue. My goal as always is to improve and strengthen marriages.  Spending time together always helps this occur. (Well…almost always…)

Here are some tips if you want to get your man to shop with you:

• Give him a mission.  Men love a purpose.  We are hunters by nature.  Tell us exactly what you are looking for, that you haven’t been able to find it anywhere and that you need his help finding it.  Then get out of his way and let him hunt!
• Understand his limit.  When enough is enough, let him eat.
• Feed him well.
• Let him carry packages to the car. It gives him something to do.
  
• Include a stop for him (if he’s up to it). If he wants to look at tools for a while don’t complain if he looked at dresses.
• Don’t push stores he doesn’t like.    Save those for the girls trips. (Personally, I don’t care for the candle shops or soaps and lotion shops.  To me if you smell one, you’ve smelled them all.)
• Give him credit for going and don’t expect it to be his favorite way to spend a day. Recognize he is doing it out of love for you, not for the activity.
• Give him time to enjoy the things he enjoys doing at other times. Do them with him if he wants you to…and don’t complain if you do participate.

Girls: Does your husband shop with you?  What are your tips for us?

Guys:  Do you shop with your wives?  What keeps you going?

For more tips on marriage, click HERE

This week I am excited to learn and network at two great conferences.

Cultivate describes itself as follows:

It is said the collective wisdom of a group is more valuable than the expertise of one. Cultivate is a collective wisdom. It brings ministry and marketplace leaders to the table and asks them to leave their formal presentations at home.

Cultivate is about bringing you together with the skilled, the experienced, and the insightful, and together you will drive the content. Together you will discover breakthrough insights.

Cultivate is about organized conversations, and each conversation will be designed to nurture collaboration without confining the experience to a box. Expect to be stretched. Expect to be challenged. Expect to culivate a new way of thinking.

If you are creative, strategic, and responsible for influencing how your church communicates, there is a chair waiting for you.

Story describes itself as follows:

STORY is a first-of-its-kind experience for communicators on Wednesday, October 28, at the beautiful Paramount Theater near Chicago. Over 1,500 church leaders, pastors, teachers, artists, and authors are coming to learn from some of the most effective communicators of the Gospel – the greatest story ever told.

Bring your creative team to hear from six master communicators in this theatrical conference experience. You’ll be entertained. You’ll be enlightened. You’ll never communicate the same way again.

Go deeper in STORY. Register for a follow-up day of workshops on October 29 with some of the leading filmmakers, scholars, designers and thought leaders in ministry. You’ll be guided through a creative journey where you can ask hard questions and learn the latest breakthroughs in communication. Space is limited.

Of course, one of the benefits to a conference in Chicago is I have a very special connection here.  Nate Edmondson, my youngest son, is here studying at Moody Bible Institute.  Anyone that knows me well knows I am a hard worker and rarely take days off, and this is certainly not a play week for me.  I hope to learn and connect a lot this week, but I can promise you my nights will be occupied with one special young man!

Hello Chicago!

Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David.  1 Samuel 19:1 NIV

David was minding his own business one day, tending sheep, when God called him to be a king. He didn’t ask to be king, but God said he was the one. He turned out to be a great king. Imagine that? God made a good pick! David had a heart modeled after God’s, according to the Bible.

So, since God had chosen to bless David in such a way, why do we later find Saul trying to kill David? In fact, for some time, David is chased by Saul. David hides out, all alone, which is the setting we find him in during the writings of many of the Psalms. David was God’s choice for king and yet he was placed in incredible adversity.

What does this tell us? I think what it says to me is that sometimes God’s will for us will find us in the middle of trials in life. More importantly, I am learning that I cannot determine whether I am in God’s will based on whether or not my life is peaceful. Just because I have trials, doesn’t mean I am not in the center of God’s will for my life.

Think about Abraham who faced the trial of leaving his homeland; Moses who wandered in the wilderness forty years; Joseph who was sold into slavery; Nehemiah who had to fight off naysayers; Daniel who was thrown into a lion’s den. All of these great servants of God faced persecution, heartache, and trials beyond most of our imaginations. Yet, all them, during the adversity, were right where God wanted them to be, in the center of His will.

Yes, we would all like life to be peaceful, and it is true that we can have inner peace in the middle of the storms of life, but God has not promised us a life free of problems. In fact, we can be perfectly within His will and still be facing adversity. It is often through the process of life’s difficulties that God makes us more like Jesus.

Trust Him today, regardless of your circumstances!  He’s working a plan!

For more devotional thoughts, click HERE.

Can I be completely honest with you about something?

I don’t understand cancer. I hate it.

I know all about sin and how this world is corrupt and broken and how everything will one day be redeemed, but there is something mysterious and scary about cancer.

I have so many friends who have been affected. It’s rampant in my own family right now. I hate it.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Perhaps no other cancer has been so prevalent in our church. We have numerous breast cancer survivors at Grace Community Church. These women encourage me with their faith and resolve to not only fight the disease, but to make the world a better place in spite of their sickness. Some of the heroes of faith to me right now are these women.

This month our local Clarksville Family Magazine featured one such woman, Kelly Blevins. Kelly, and fellow Grace girl Lynne Woodson, have decided to use their experience with cancer to launch a local support group for other breast cancer patients. This type ministry fires me up, because it addresses real and practical needs. I want to be their biggest cheerleader!

Have you experienced the devastation of cancer in your life, either personally or with people you love?

Have you marveled at the faith of those with cancer?

Take some time today to pray for a cure, to pray for God’s comfort, and to pray for those families struggling with cancer.

One contrast between a manager and a leader is that good managers enjoy stability…

The best managers love systems that work…

…While leaders love chaos…

They may not admit it, because it sounds somewhat morbid, but leaders love when things are just a little messy…

The truth is leaders love fixing a problem…

Leaders love leading a charge through adversity…

Leaders love a challenge…

It’s not that leaders don’t want things that work well…

Leaders just thrive on change…on adrenaline…

Since, leaders are heads up more than heads down…

…And tend to see the big picture over the details…

Real leaders thrive best when everyone else is looking for a leader.

He or she loves figuring out solutions to different situations….

Leaders love forming a new strategy…

Leaders love shaping a team through rough waters…

Leaders love attaining those things everyone else said couldn’t be attained…

Leaders love to lead…

In fact, if things get too comfortable…well…I wrote about that concept HERE.

Considering this observation, are you more of a leader or a manager? (Read THIS POST for more on this subject)

Be honest leaders: Do you agree? (Feel free to disagree.)

You got to love (or not) the staff I work with at Grace Community Church. They put a lot of effort into their work (nonsense) sometimes.  Now they are in the product design/info commercial phase of ministry.  If we sell enough of these, we are buying a new building!

By the way, the only real way to rid your sin problem is through Jesus Christ. Don’t want to confuse the literal thinkers.