In my meetings I love "What" questions.  They can cut through the fog quickly...Today I asked a pastor struggling with his schedule these 4 questions:"What do you want to stop doing?""What do you want to keep doing?""What do you want to start doing?""Okay, now, what are you going to do?" ... A great discussed followed!Continue reading "4 great “What” questions…"

I keep everything on my google calendar which I sync from my Smartphone.  I can only imagine what I would do without it.  The quotations below belie the fact that during my first year of my campus ministry I didn't even have a calendar I carried with me.  That's hard to imagine as I look backContinue reading "Faster and faster and faster … really?"

If:... You do things in a fair, even-handed way (I Corinthians 14:40)... You treat people with respect (Matthew 7:12)... You come to a solution that is fair and just (Micah 6:8)Here's what may happen:* You will be surprised at how satisfied people are even if they disagree with the heart of your decision.  * YouContinue reading "People will disagree with you … But…"

Young Funeral director and excellent writer Caleb Wilde always makes me think, as he does today with this graphic from a recent tweet...Today's thoughtful essay on his blog (Confessions of a funeral Director) is about how his grandfather, still a working funeral director, has such a strong ability to bring comfort to people during timesContinue reading "Making friends with those experiencing loss…"

Here's my religion column in today's Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette on having a life verse, something Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, strongly promotes.   

In Let Your Life Speak, Parker Palmer writes about what it means to just be present for people, especially when they are not asking to be fixed, not asking for our advice ...He writes:One of the hardest things we must do sometimes is to be present to another person’s pain without trying to “fix” it,Continue reading "You might speak your loudest with total silence…"

One of my favorite bloggers -- blogger Amy -- really gets how I often feel..."We, as believers in both truth and grace, are called to be messy middlers of the faith!So for me, The Messy Middle is where we hold truth and grace in tension, knowing some will be more drawn to one side or the other. We, asContinue reading "Holding grace and truth in tension…"

True peace, that almost anyone I have ever spoken with wants, is 3-fold:First, there is peace with God: Rom. 5:1 "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."Second, there is peace with others: 1 Thess. 5:13 "Live in peace with each other."Third, there is peaceContinue reading "True peace that passes understanding…"