Enjoying the Journey

Stay.

It is often easier to leave.  Problems come and we think that is our cue to go.  Our transient world tends to promote this idea.  “Leave the marriage!  Quit the job!  Forget the friendship!  Find another ministry!  Move on and things will get better.” The result is a plethora of broken marriages, empty churches, and frustrated lives.  People leave where they are and what they should be doing for many reasons…curiosity, boredom, discouragement.  Any reason will do, and the devil will always provide one. This year I will celebrate 20 years of being at Temple Baptist Church and Crown College.  I have learned so many things through these seasons of life, but perhaps the greatest is that there are rewards…

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How to Make the Most of the New Year

Another “how to” post?  Not exactly.  There will be no formula.  No equation.  No list.  No step by step instructions.  But there is a truth – one powerful truth – that can help you make the most of the year ahead. We measure our lives in years.  God measures them in days.  Read Psalm 90 and notice the Lord’s emphasis on “the days of our years.” The way to make the most of the year is to make the most of the days.  One day at a time.  In fact, very ordinary days can turn in to an extraordinary year. When the journal of the famed explorer Christopher Columbus was discovered, one entry seemed to fill most days.  It was…

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Finishing Well

Earlier today our students at Crown College completed their final exams and departed for Christmas break.  There is something terribly exciting about the successful conclusion to another semester of college.  (Teachers feel this way too!)  Miraculously, everyone seems to have a good day on the last day of school. It is one thing to finish and quite another to finish well.  The Apostle Paul knew what it was to finish well when he wrote, “I have finished my course” (2 Timothy 4:7).  In still another place he testified that his aim was to “finish my course with joy” (Acts 20:24).  Not simply to endure.  Not to manage to collapse across the finish line.  To finish strong! Through the years I…

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