Starting Right

Today's episode was originally broadcast on June 3, 2024.  The message is just as relevant and powerful today as it was then.. Enjoy and be blessed Some lines don’t just sound good, they expose what you’re really standing on. Today’s five-minute Monday reset is built around one of those lines from Anne Wilson’s “Sunday Sermons”: “The devil’s gonna try and take me out of that church, but you c...

The strangest crashes often come right after a win. One day you’re handling everything, serving everyone, pushing through on faith and grit. The next day you wake up and think, “I’m just tired of the stress of being me.” That’s the honest place we start from today, and it’s exactly where Scripture gets painfully real. We open 1 Kings 19 and sit with Elijah after Mount Carmel, after the fire-from-h...

Teaching can feel like standing in the middle of a storm while trying to light a small, steady lamp. Today I’m dedicating this short morning episode to teachers everywhere, the ones in public school classrooms, Christian schools, and homeschooling families who keep showing up because they love kids and care about what happens to them. We talk honestly about the pressure many educators feel right n...

One sentence can pull you out of a spiral. King Richard the Lionheart is known as a fearless warrior, yet even he has a moment where he retreats because the odds look impossible. Then an advisor rides up and says, “Don’t forget who you are,” and everything changes. The battlefield doesn’t suddenly get easier, but Richard’s identity snaps back into focus and his next move follows. That story sets u...

Someone looks you in the eye and says, “I don’t believe God exists.” Your mind races, your heart pounds, and even though you feel sure of what you believe, the words don’t come. That tension, knowing something deep down yet struggling to explain it clearly, is where we start today. We talk through one of the most common objections people raise: if God is real and loving, why is there so much suffe...

Bad advice can sound confident, especially when you’re tired, stressed, and just trying to make it through the day. I open with James 1:17, a grounding reminder that every gift God freely gives is good and perfect, then I point to the Bible as something more than comforting words. For me, Scripture is God’s “how to” manual for real life, packed with promises you can hold onto when things get heavy...

A stopped river is impressive. The part that can change your daily life is what God asks for next. I start with a quick pop quiz about Scripture, then walk straight into Joshua’s crossing of the Jordan River, when the priests step into flood-stage water carrying the Ark of the Covenant and God makes a way on dry ground. But the heart of the message is the follow-up: God tells Joshua to pull twelve...

Some friendships are loud when everything is fun, then quiet when things get messy. We start today with a gut-check definition that cuts through the noise: a real friend walks in when everybody else walks out. If you’ve ever felt abandoned in a hard season, or you want to become the kind of person others can count on, this short morning episode is for you. We open Mark 2:1–12 and step into a packe...

New songs in church can feel like someone moved the furniture in your own living room. One week the hymns you know by heart carry you, the next week a fresh chorus shows up and you are not sure what to do with it. We get it and we take five minutes to talk about the real issue underneath the “old hymns vs contemporary worship” debate: how Christians stay united when our music preferences are all o...

Some mornings, you don’t need a long lecture. You need one steady truth that can hold your thoughts together. Today we lean into a simple, powerful theme: trusting God when your path feels uncertain and your heart wants to grab the steering wheel.  We kick off Music Monday with Elevation Worship’s “Trust In God,” then we unpack three Scripture anchors that make trust practical, not vague. Deuteron...

In 1992 Harvey Pennick wrote The Little Red Book, which became the best-selling sports book of all time.  At first he thought this collection of advice about golf would be fun to hand down to his children, but then a publisher offered him a deal that he almost turned down, because he didn't understand what was being offered. We would love to hear your comments. Send us a Text Message Support...

A single line can carry a whole ocean of grief: “Saved alone. What shall I do?” Danny Mac shares the true story of Horatio Gates Spafford, a successful Chicago lawyer whose life was first shaken by the Great Chicago Fire and then shattered by an unimaginable loss at sea. It’s the real history behind the hymn many of us have heard or sung, “It Is Well With My Soul,” and it’s far more raw and human...

A woman plants churches with Paul, teaches a rising leader, and gets her name placed first in a way that would have raised eyebrows in the first century. That’s Priscilla and her story is a timely jolt for anyone who feels overlooked, underqualified, or unsure how their gifts can matter. We walk through her introduction in Acts 18, where she and Aquila meet Paul in Corinth and share life with him...

One moment at a dinner table in Bethany turns into a lesson on worship that still confronts us today. We talk through Mary of Bethany taking an alabaster jar of rare, costly nard and anointing Jesus’ feet, then wiping them with her hair as the fragrance fills the entire house. It’s a vivid picture of gratitude that isn’t cautious, calculated, or concerned with looking sensible.  We also sit with t...

Some mornings feel like you’re waking up to a life you didn’t choose, where joy got taken piece by piece and you’re left trying to figure out what’s even yours to hope for. We keep it simple and honest today: God is a God of restoration, and what feels stolen is not beyond repair. We talk through “Take It All Back” by Tauren Wells and We The Kingdom, a worship song built like a battle cry for anyo...

Jealousy doesn’t usually announce itself. It slips in as a quiet complaint, a small grudge, or that sinking feeling when someone else gets what we wanted. Today I walk through Cain’s story in Genesis 4 not to gawk at a “bad guy,” but to trace the steps that took him from a careless offering to anger, denial, and the first murder. If you’ve ever felt overlooked by God, irritated at church, or frust...

God calls Gideon a “mighty man of valor” at the exact moment Gideon looks anything but mighty and that tension is where real growth begins. If you’ve ever felt like you’re hiding, behind, or disqualified, this short Christian devotional hits straight at the gap between how we see ourselves and how God speaks over us. We walk through three traits that shape a person of valor: strength, courage, and...

The world has changed faster than most of us can even name. A scientist recently made a bold claim: the technological advances since 2000 may surpass everything developed in the 100 years before it. That is an incredible thought, and it should make us grateful. But it also raises a heavier question we cannot ignore: if our tools keep getting better, why does life still feel so unsatisfying for so...

A single line from Scripture can rearrange your priorities: “Train yourself to be godly.” We take 1 Timothy 4:7-8 out of the abstract and into real life, where godliness is not just what we know but how we live, choose, and respond under pressure. If you’ve ever felt the tension between doing what’s right and doing what’s rewarded, this one will meet you right where you are. We walk through the tr...

One little question can mess with your whole Monday in the best way: If you could change one thing about yourself with no limits, what would it be? I take that question head-on, because most of us already know what we want to fix, but we keep getting pulled back into the same loop. We start strong, we swear it will be different this time, and then life happens: temptation, stress, convenience, a “...

Some mornings, the hardest prayer to say is the simplest one: “Lord, how long?” When the world feels loud with violence, unfairness, and nonstop bad news, God can seem strangely quiet. I walk through Habakkuk, one of the most honest books in the Bible, where a frustrated prophet brings his questions straight to God and refuses to settle for shallow answers. We look at what Habakkuk actually compla...

Knowing the Bible isn’t the same as obeying it, and that gap might be the biggest threat to our faith right now. Today I’m sharing a five-minute challenge that cuts through spiritual noise: Christian life is action. Not speculation. Not debating. Doing. A quote from Frederick Robertson sets the tone, reminding us that feelings pass, opinions change, and even strong resolves can fade, but what we a...

A listener forwarded me a short piece called “Opinion from a Judge,” and it grabbed my attention for one simple reason: it sounded like the kind of story that spreads fast whether it’s true or not. So I did what I wish all of us would do more often in our media-saturated world, I checked it. Snopes affirmed the account, and what came next was both fascinating and unsettling. The story centers on J...

Love is one of the most overused words in our culture and one of the least practiced when things get tense. Today we start with a surprising connection: a 1965 hit written at the height of the Vietnam War, “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” and the reason that message still feels urgent when fear and anger are everywhere. We ask the real, practical question: what does love look like when you are...

Some mornings don’t need more noise, they need one clear truth you can carry. Today we build that truth around a worship classic that’s helped me more times than I can count: Vicky Yohe’s “Because of Who You Are.” It’s a five-minute start to your day, but it’s also a small, steady reminder that God hasn’t changed, and His names still speak. We slow down and unpack three powerful Old Testament name...