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Do you really want to go back to your past and relieve the glory days, as if they really existed?  One of my teachers and mentors, Pastor John Piippo, expresses my sentiments well as he reflects today on reliving the past…

My heart sank yesterday when I as at a mall and saw a young woman, who appeared to be the mother, curse two children with her (one about 4, the other about 2).  The woman looked to be about 20 years old.  Just as I was walking by the bench where they were sitting, theContinueContinue reading “You are loved fully, completely, infinitely by your Creator!”

What began with Ash Wednesday is continuing into Lent — the need to confess our sins.  And that is the topic of discussion in my today’s column in the Champaign-Urbana, IL, News-Gazette

There are lots of paradoxes in Scripture, and Lent is a good time to ponder them…Die to liveGive to receiveGive your life away to find itThe weak shall be strong and the humble will be exaltedI find it a constant challenge to give my life away, to stop looking out for only myself and toContinueContinue reading “Pondering the paradoxes of life…while praying with St. Francis”

“Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” … Amos 3:3Pastor-coach Kirk Kirlin strongly believes that the key to leadership is followership.  That is, you cannot really lead anyone who is not willing to be led by you nor where they are not willing to go.  Do I agree with Kirlin?  100ContinueContinue reading “Agreeing to walk together…”

Probably not the philosophy you want to be following…Do nothing out of selfishness or vain conceit, says the good Apostle Paul.  “But in humility count others better than yourself.”  Hmmm… Now might you just happen to think these words from the apostle just may pertain to those very different from you?   🙂 🙂  … And ifContinueContinue reading “Not the philosophy of life you want to adopt…”

As I meet with pastors and leaders throughout East-Central Illinois, I find this to be true every single day…If we want to support each other’s inner lives, we must remember a simple truth: the human soul does not want to be fixed, it wants simply to be seen and heard. If we want to seeContinueContinue reading “People do not want to be fixed”

 23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone whoContinueContinue reading “A guide toward the journey and mystery of Lent”