Excel Still More

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Okay, how is that core value, that circle of importance, coming along? Have you identified and been vocal about who, or what, matters most in your life? Ranking your focus and values can give you clarity on what to do next and how. But... balance is tough! There are multiple things competing for your attention in any given we...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! To me, there is nothing more important I could share with you right now than these circles of importance. 2021 is almost over, but it is not over yet. This is an amazing time to asses our priority and value system and then see how we've done this year with our words and actions. But we can also start making efforts, chan...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Lanny Bassham was an olympic gold medalist in rifle shooting. He holds tons of records and is a National champion. Throughout his life, he has interviewed and studied winners. He sought to unlock the mentality within those who reached their goals. The results are a book called "With Winning In Mind." I highly recomm...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! A friend of mine just learned that he has terminal cancer. He wrote a letter to his church friends and it was tremendous. He doesn't regret what he didn't do. He's only sad that he cannot continue doing what he has chosen for his life. That is powerful to me. Would it be that way for me? How about you? If you k...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! If you are interested in watching Chuck Durham's lessons, or viewing his slides, please reach out to me: emersonk78@me.com. You can also find them at www.lindalechurchofchrist.com. Also, I highly recommend Lakita Garth's book: "The Naked Truth about Sex, Love and Relationships". You can find it on Amazon....

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! What's the deal with zebra stripes? They stand out in their environment. So why haven't the lions eaten them all. The answer is important for Christians. We too stand out in the world, at least we should. And the lion is seeking someone to devour - and that means you and me! So what is our best defense against him. ...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Let's keep talking about those stairs! This week we dive back in on the concept of personal discipline. Did you pick a quality and apply it last week? If you did, maybe you noticed how hard it was, or how many staircases were around every corning. I want to share a conversation I had with a friend who tried this last wee...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Are you the kind of person who takes the stairs? Or have you been the kind of person who doesn't even think about how important they are?  Is the easy way the best way in all things? The world is full of people looking for shortcuts. The problem is, they are shortcuts to nowhere. They don't achieve what they want. T...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Self Confidence is defined as a feeling of trust in one's abilities, qualities, and judgment. Each of us have a measure of self confidence, and I would argue that it is designed by God to be good. But it is not always good. Sometimes it is driven by pride and built upon the wrong idea, high self estimation. This does all...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Why is evangelism so hard for so many of us? And why have so many churches failed to create a culture of evangelism? God has a plan for His people - to spread the Word through us.  But another sermon telling people to do it won't amount to anything. We need to show people how to make it easy, make it automatic, and make...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! People seem to be afraid of everything! Some things are dangerous, but why in the world would we add the Fear Of Missing Out? How much is there to fear I am afraid of everything in the world I am not doing? Wow. God has a better plan. He wants you to live a life of joy and purpose, where you aren't burdened by "What...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Credit to Don Truex for today's title. He was reflecting recently on the passing of his father. His dad taught him to make things better in every circumstance. And to leave things better than when he found them. This is something that should shine in the life of every believer. Let's look at what it means to make th...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! "Life is easier when you know what you want." I love this line by James Clear. He goes on to note that few people have taken the time to figure out what they want. Maybe family or culture decide that for them. Maybe they just do things in hopes of finding purpose. We can do much better than that. You owe it to yours...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Everybody knows we should be saving at least a small portion of money. If you are spending everything you make, you know the stress of that. I won't focus on that today. But if you are able to save anything, even the smallest amount, what you are doing with it? Are you excited for what that means? Today let's look a...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Did you know that elephants are the most dangerous animal in the world? They are responsible for 500 human deaths every year. And yet, throughout history, mankind has continue trying to tame this animal. Why? Because they are so strong, powerful and useful!  The process by which they are controlled is grueling and cruel, but...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Hard Work is good. Everybody knows we should be working hard. However, it is not the best thing. It is not the first or most important thing. The better thing is to Work Smart. Wisdom in our pursuits, strategy in our path, is way more important. Plenty of people grind and get few results. For some reason, they keep grinding,...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Peace within the soul is a joy to all who have it. But with the darkness of the world and the uncertainties of life, many live with only passing moments of peacefulness. Christ has promised you so much more. He wants to house something in your soul that abides, that stands the test of time and life itself. Today we will talk...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! We all have challenges in our relationships at times. There are just some people we tend to argue with. There are some topics that bring out our passion and not always for the best. There are certainly life issues and situations that are very hard and aren't always handled well. This seems confusing. I mean, we are Chris...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Each of us has a strong collection of beliefs and convictions. People are willing to fight to the death of friendships, families, church, in the name of their own world picture. It's fine to have a strong view of things, but can you admit it may not be right. If we are always learning, and don't stand in the way of...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Tonight was special for me. It is Sunday night, just one day before the podcast's release. I was sitting with two special friends, and we stood to sing the final song: "In His Time." I felt like God was surrounding me with beautiful things and people at that moment, and I have great hope for many more in the fu...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Welcome to calmness in a frustrating world! Okay, how about the PROSPECT of such a thing. I'm the kind of person who has immediate emotional reactions that often get me in trouble. I very often look back and think, "If I had just taken a moment to think about that, things would have gone so much better." And, t...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Why can't we just all agree on everything? Why don't people see things like you see them all the time? And does a healthy relationship demand such?  Well, on that last one, I sure hope not! The truth is, we see things differently than even our closest friends. How do we deal with that? I have to tell you, there are...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! I am apologizing in advance. The experiment behind today's episode is pretty morbid. I in no way hope that you find yourself swimming for your life in a oversized test tube. I also feel like the feedback that is coming will ensure no more episodes feature rats, dead or alive.  However... for today... I have an old scient...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! This episode feels important. Sure, I want to talk to you about your influence. I want to talk to you about the love in you and who gets that love and how longsuffering your are with it. And yes, I want to ask about your light. I want to tell you that you reflect Christ and the world needs to see you illuminated in His name....

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! I'm in search of someone who is looking for adventure. Who is ready to step out there and do something that most people will not do. You need to know, it won't be easy. And there are risks that it might not go as planned. And you have no way to predict what will happen next! But the alternative... being stuck in the...