Set Your Mind Above

Send us Fan Mail As my grass started growing back in after a fresh cut, I noticed a distinct pattern to how entire strips of grass were longer than the sections next to it. As I looked at my mower, I discovered that one tire was going flat, and therefore it was unbalanced. It left my yard looking like a terrible haircut.  Imbalance in our lives can lead to all kinds of problems - at home, with our...

Send us Fan Mail My good buddy Jacob Stout, who is a very talented golfer, was recenlty golfing with another friend of his. He hit a decent shot, but he wasn't pleased with it. When he got in the cart, his buddy goes, "You know you'll never be good, right? You'll only be better."  Isnt' that the truth with our spiritual walk as well? There is only one who is good - Je...

Send us Fan Mail My mind has been on the residents of Kerr County all week, after the flash flooding and mass devastation that has occured. 120 are confirmed dead with 170 still missing. I cannot imagine that kind of loss. My words can do little to help them or make things better...but I can direct my words to the One who can.  God's words have power. He has the power to create and sustain. T...

Send us Fan Mail We took the kids with their grandparents to the Lexington Children's Museum, and the big hit was the bubble room! Bubbles are a lot of fun, but they are for just a short moment and then their fragile shape pops and is gone. Then you forget them, and move on to another bubble or another room.  Our lives are like the bubble room - here today and gone tomorrow. Short, fragile, a...

Send us Fan Mail The kids were enjoying making paper airplanes this afternoon, but Finley refused to throw hers. She kept a death grip on it. When I inquired why she wouldn't let it go, she responded that she had worked so hard on it.  We have a hard time of letting go of things we have poured a lot of ourselves into. Our children, a church, our money, all kinds of things. And yet it is by Go...

Send us Fan Mail As we traveled back from camp, my friend Will and I were taken back by some signs being sold at Buc-ee's. They were mocking Scripture, particularly from the book of Joshua, and making light of the things God has said. It was startling, but not surprising.  We are called to be holy, because God is holy. And a such, that means he should be honored as holy - and that includes hi...

Send us Fan Mail I was attacked by a swarm of cicadas while on the mower last night, and in trying to swat them away I knocked my earbud off into the grass. It was expensive, important, and very small. So I spent 20 minutes on my hands and knees until I finally found it!  Do we realize that God values souls equally? He came to seek and save the lost. Like the parable of the lost sheep or the lost...

Send us Fan Mail We had a tornado go through very close to us this morning, within about 5 miles, but we received no watch or warning notifications. The National Weather Service is having some updates that prevented us from being told - and I'm thankful that we are safe, but others were not so fortunate.  Ezekiel is called a watchman for the house of Israel - to warn them of God's judgme...

Send us Fan Mail In life, we have full circle moments when things you once did are things you find yourself doing again - but as a parent. I had that this week, from t-ball with my son to reading them Calvin & Hobbes together, we had many full circle moments. As I tucked my kids in, my son said, "Dad, I'm just like you."  And he will be - he watches my every move as all our chil...

Send us Fan Mail Someone kept trying to deliver a package to us that we were supposed to pay for. We had no idea what this package was. After going into the post office, it turns out it was a fraud - a fairly common scam. They post officer workers are trained in what to look for, and therefore we promptly rejected it.  There are many fraudulent gospels floating around today too. False doctrine tha...

Send us Fan Mail I did my leg in, and I've been doing physical therapy as a result. You can't tell I have a problem looking at the surface, but deep underneath I really messed up my hamstring area. A lot of injuries are like that - and if left unchecked, can cause a lot of problems.  Internally, we all have things that perhaps others cannot see on the surface, but they are serious spirit...

Send us Fan Mail Our local pharmacy was robbed at gunpoint yesterday. Thankfully, no one was injured and later on the suspect was aprehended. This kind of thing just doesn't happen that often here in our small town, so it took us all by surpise. It was unexpected, and many were not prepared for it.  The Lord likens his return to a thief - because we will not know when he is coming, and when h...

Send us Fan Mail This week Kylie and I participated in the Passion WOD at CrossFit. 100 double-unders. 800m 95/65# barbell carry. 100 burpees. It was designed to remind us of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It was a hard workout, but moreso because of how emotional it was.  Do we really understand just how much Jesus suffered for us? Today we explore the details of scourging, the car...

Send us Fan Mail A had the most horrid sound coming from my car, and after googling the car's symptoms I began to be worried it was going to be a huge fix. Turns out $40 it was something very small, literally. I guess that's the way it goes, usually the things we worry about don't ever happen.  Jesus teaches us not to worry, to not be anxious. Usually, the thing's were anxious...

Send us Fan Mail We have had an incredible amount of rain from the storms, which is good considering we just planted 150 trees on the farm. That's quite the process - you have to prepare the soil, firmly ground it, and make sure it's oriented properly - pointed in the right direction.  As a matter of fact, this is the exact process we must go through in teaching others the gospel. We mus...

Send us Fan Mail I recently had a conversation with a friend who helps to run a memory care facility. She told me that while some days are very hard for residents, the blessing of such a difficult disease is that the next day they have no memory of what happened before that made them so miserable or angry. Each day is a reset, a new day.  Forgiveness works much the same way, doesn't it? When...

Send us Fan Mail Spring has sprung. What once was lifeless brown and dead is now starting to team with the signs of life. Trees are blossoming, birds are singing, and my spirit could not be more thrilled about it.  Nature teaches us about the nature of God. We serve a God with the power to take dead things and bring them to life. He demonstrated such power through creation. He demonstrated such po...

Send us Fan Mail My son turned 5 years old today, and it seems like the last five years have just flown by. Life has a funny way of passing us by. A good friend reminded me last night that time is the only currentcy we spend without knowing our remaining balance, so use it wisely.  Are we vigilant and intentional with our time? If not, we might end up losing and never getting back the precious tim...

Send us Fan Mail Our youngest has another double ear infection, and it came on fast. There was no warning, and suddenly she was miserable. As I held her tonight, I sat and watched my ice melt in my glass - it was slow, and it was subtle. What a contrast.  We need to remember that spiritual growth and spiritual deterioration are not like an infection - neither happen overnight or are sudden. They a...

Send us Fan Mail We got a big snow dump again, and the kids wanted to go outside and play in it. This was the best kind of snow, the kind that packs tight so you can make snowballs and snowmen. The kids asked me to teach them how, and I explained you have to apply pressure and press the snow in your hands - that's what makes it stronger.  Life works the same way with our faith. We've got...

Send us Fan Mail Kylie and I have been doing a healthy living challenge, and at the start it was very tough - especially what felt like a very restrictive diet. But the longer we've done it, the better we've felt. I've started to realize how poor my diet was before, and it wasn't the way I was designed to eat. Our new way of life is freeing - and I don't want to go back. ...

Send us Fan Mail Bee's a pretty incredible. The female honeybee is capable of stinging a predator or what she considers dangerous, but not to protect herself - to protect the colony. Her act is self-sacrificing and selfless. She lays down her life for others.  That is the nature of love. It puts the needs of others first. That is the kind of love Jesus demonstrated for us - laying down his li...

Send us Fan Mail My grandmother a few days ago was put on hospice care, and I called to tell her goodbye just the other night. In Christ, we don't grieve as those who have no hope. She has fought the good fight, she has finished the race, she's kept the faith.  Death is a part of life, and we will all face it. But for Christians, death is a release from this broken world and birth into s...

Send us Fan Mail I noticed a table at our local Chick-Fil-A I had never noticed before. It said the following, "This table was built by artisans from A Better Way Ministries. The materials used were salvaged from unwanted and abandoned homes. The hands that built it belong to a person who also once felt unwanted and abandoned. Love, compassion, and grace are powerful tools."  In the same...

Send us Fan Mail Happy New Year Everyone!  Are you ready to change? If it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you. Make the right choice. Being a disciple isn't a New Year resolution. It is a discliplined choice that you make all year long for the rest of your life. Is it time?  #SetYourMindAbovePodcast