Marvin Webster died this week. He was 56 years old. The news
spokesmen told us their memories and reminded us how great he was. I never
heard of him.
He was 7-foot-1. His nickname was “The Human Eraser.” He
played 333 consecutive games in the NBA, averaging 16.1 points per game during
the SuperSonics playoff run in 1978. He next played for six seasons with the
New York Knicks. He was a tremendous shot-blocker, well-liked, and his death
didn’t make the front page. Neither will most of ours.
Yet, our dreams are important.
Continue reading "Dreamers Don't Have to Be Famous" »
What could you give up in order to prepare spiritually for
Easter?
I’m giving up lunch
once a week. I’m also saying
good-bye every day to reading the news on the Internet and listening to the radio
in my car. Instead, I will pray during those hours. As I am driving down the road, I will focus on God (and the
traffic), but not the radio. And
one more thing, every time I get a forwarded email, I’m sticking it in the
trash without opening it and saying a one-minute prayer. This alone should do wonders for me! I’ll
do this fasting until Easter.
Will you fast from a few things too?
Continue reading "Fast for Easter" »
What are you going to do
this year? I’m on a mission to get
people on a mission. Too many
people are living their lives by letting their circumstances determine their
lives. They don’t do what they
want. Instead, they simply roll
with the punches, go with the flow, yield to the tyranny of the urgent, and end
up nowhere near where they want to be.
More importantly, they end up nowhere near where God wants them to
be. Sadness, learned helplessness,
and a sense of loss of control are all the terrible side effects. That isn’t how anyone should live—especially
a Christ-follower. It’s a waste.
If you don’t want to waste
your time or your life (which are pretty much the same thing), then you must
make some choices, plan some actions, and take those actions. I talked about this some in my first
message of the year (Good Stops for Good Starts ), but I want to
spell it out succinctly here.
Continue reading "Make Some Goals" »
Sunday was one of those refreshing and yet troubling days. We talked about evil and suffering, its causes, and why God would allow any of it. After hearing a humorous incident where I suffered (not really, except I still didn't deserve that ticket, ha), we let our minds consider the true depth of awful evil in the world. We tried to provide a framework of five pieces that helps us move forward.
Continue reading "Suffering Follow-Up" »
I read a book that is a modern day business classic: Good to Great, by Jim Collins (I highly recommend it for you business types). Professor Jim pulled together a team of researchers, collected a ton of data, chewed it over pretty good, and then made some radical conclusions about how companies can take the almost unheard of step from being good to great, and then sustaining their greatness. Here is a good summary. It is how he starts his book . . .
Continue reading "is good enough?" »