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Last week I was down in Frisco, TX for the NDSU championship football game. Next to our hotel was…by all counts…the most tempting and fabulous building I had ever seen. On the outside it read in beautiful neon letters: Indoor Skydiving. I’ve ALWAYS wanted to skydive. It’s been one of my bucket-list items, for sure. When I was 14, my Godmother took me on a 3 day trip to Hawaii to celebrate my birthday/confirmation. She was a flight attendant with NorthWest and had the chance to fly me for free. One of the things we did while in Hawaii was a f...
A great conversation unfolded within my weekly study group of The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. This week’s topic: Developing your friendship with God. The crux of the chapter is that you are as close to God as you choose to be. The way you get closer is by intimate desire, time and energy. But as the chapter goes on, it has a heavy emphasis on how we need to learn what God cares about and then do the same… The group of nearly a dozen talked about the widow and orphan – and the homeless person flying a sign on the street corner. As that...
I’ve struggled to feel the blazing flame of Christ lately. Sure, I still attend church – and my faith in Him hasn’t faltered – but I haven’t felt the fire quite like I have in the past. I think routine has become the killer. Whether that routine includes regular worship or not – it’s as though I’m going through the motions without getting in the fight. Each relationship I build – or each relationship I lose – acts as kindling for my fire. Every piece of scripture I read and every worship song I sing adds some wood to the pile. And at the en...
My wife Emily and I watched the 5k race back in 2008 as a part of the Fargo Marathon festivities. SEVEN THOUSAND people crammed the course – seemingly on top of one another – to run the 3.1-mile race. The first place finisher clocked a time of 16 minutes and 30 seconds. The last place finisher hadn’t approached even a half mile by the time the winner crossed the tape. And while I was impressed by the person who took first place – I was blown away by those who finished near #7,000. As the pack really thinned, the fans dissipated. The walkers...
For nearly fifteen years, I have worked with kids in a faith-based setting. I was a bible camp counselor for two summers. I volunteered 2-5 hours a week all throughout college at my church to help kids. I worked at my home-church for eight years as a youth director. I then worked on a local college campus for 18 months with young people. And in that time, I learned that kids are totally dumb. Note – kids are not stupid. Stupid shows a lack of intelligence. Being dumb (at least my definition) is more about being ignorant…naïve…and gullib...
If you’re looking for a model of what the church is supposed to look like – look no further than a local Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting. Alcoholism runs rampant in my family (I’m lucky to not have the disease), but some very close people in my life do. I spent some time this week talking with those that battle the bottle. Listening to my friends describe the comradery and transparency at AA made me almost jealous! The stories went like this… “When you walk into AA for the first time, it’s usually because you have just hit rock bottom. You...
My mentor, co-worker and friend Rollie Johnson told those words to me in 2001. My mom had just died and I was entering into my senior year of college. I had mounds of responsibilities (from work to clubs to school to church and everything in-between) on my plate and I was emotionally broken. I didn’t know how to function with this new heaping pile of hurt from losing my mom. So, through my tears and pain, I told Rollie that I just wasn’t sure what to do because I had committed myself to so many things. And I wasn’t just a participant – I was a...
