“On Your Mark”

Excuses can be tricky, because some of them are really good and make a lot of sense. And those excuses can be used to justify certain behaviors. However, just because we have a good excuse doesn't mean we should use it. As a matter of fact, often times the better the excuse, the more we use it to justify our failure to grow and go where God has called us. Let's face it, we all have excuses, some o...

We often times have a tough time accepting responsibility for our own mishaps and misbehavior, we certainly don't want to be responsible when it is not our fault. However, sometimes being a healthy functioning adult means that is exactly what we have to do. We have to be more focused on moving forward toward God and the things He has called us to rather than staying stagnant waiting for someone to...

One of the toughest things we often times have to do in life is to pick ourselves up when someone else knocks us down. I mean, it's not my fault why should I have to do it. Well the simple answer is because the other person doesn't care to do it. But a more real and honest answer is, because it is your responsibility. Not your fault, but your responsibility. And I know that may not seem fair, but...

Overcoming pain and trauma requires a willingness to go to God and allow Him to lead us to people, places and things that will help us. Church? yes, Devotion? yes, Fasting? yes, but also therapy and counseling. On this episode we explore some therapeutic measures to help us overcome pain and trauma.

Overcoming pain and trauma starts with a connection with and to God. The more we are able to stay in constant connection and communication with Him, the more we are able to overcome and move forward. This may seem trivial until we realize the the communication doesn't have to always be cordial. We can be frustrated and upset and uneasy and in distress. This helps us get out of us that which is irr...

Life can sometimes catch us off guard and throw things at us that are tough and difficult to deal with. If we are honest, sometimes it is due to our own disobedience. Truth be told, difficulty and obstacles are not a matter of if, but when. Further, being a Christian doesn't exempt us from trouble but guarantees it. So what do we do. Well, we trust God and His Word. We understand that we will be b...

Knowing more and more about God and about Jesus gives us tremendous confidence and trust in Him and His Word. It allows us to move forward when we can't see our way clear. But it is our knowledge of who He is and a better understanding even of ourselves that allows us to trust Him and move forward by and in faith.

Remembering what has happened gives us great insight into, one, what is possible and 2, what is likely. With God, remembering and recognizing His great acts in history, in His-story and in our story gives us great insight into His capability. It is also meant to give us great trust in what He will do when He calls us to move and maneuver on His behalf.

Do you know Him...I mean really "know" Him? That is a question we all must ponder. Knowing God and putting in the energy and effort to get to know God will have a direct impact on our faith actualization and faith utilization. Not just knowing about Him or having some type of passing insight, but a real passion and pursuit to get to know the Living God. As we do so, we will find our ability to sta...

It is amazing how powerful the word and actions of Jesus are. It is also amazing that we get to access and walk in that power when we walk in and by faith. When we do, we can utterly baffle those around us who are used to seeing us one way but come to recognize that we are totally different because we have had an encounter with Jesus and by faith we are walking out His words over our lives.

With God, the power of His Word is so strong, that we as Christians, by faith, step out on the Word, stand on the Word and stay on the Word.

Sometimes something that seems so insignificant at the time can turn out to be so powerful in a different time. That is why it is so important that we pay attention, especially to The Word of God and the voice of Jesus. He will often tell us things and give us directions that may seem trivial and even insignificant at the time. But in time, we will find power flowing from and through that word if...

There are times when life can hit you so hard that it knocks you of kilter. During those times emotions are typically pretty high and it gets increasingly difficult to make a good decision. It is during those times when it becomes extremely important to employ the proper strategy. But things can be going so haywire it can be hard to do that. So what do we do? We have to take a timeout. We have to...

When doing math problems, the order of operations matter...a lot. As it is with math, so it is with God and having faith. There is a strategy that must be followed in order to arrive at the correct answer. There is a order of operations, a taking the right actions, the first actions that will lead us to what and where God desires us to have and be. It won't always look the way we want and it won't...

Strategy is important in most every area of life. As important as it is, it seems to be equally ignored. At least that is when we need it most. The point of the strategy is to help you, hold you, steady you in the difficult times. To give you a bit of stability and an anchor when it gets rocky. We have to learn to stay with the strategy God has given us even when what we see doesn't match what we...

When God calls us to a tough place and a tight space, it can be difficult. but if we are honest, the more we have and the more we can see the easier it is to follow. But what happens when the tough place gets tougher and the tight place begins to restrict u?. What happens when we come to the end of sight and seemingly the end of provisions. It is important to know that even when we are out, God ne...

God will often call us to places and to do things that we feel woefully unprepared and unable to do. And frankly, in most cases we will be both unprepared and unable. But the blessing in all of that is we are not going alone. We have a partner who is with us, who is directing us, who is speaking to us and who is preparing to way for us so that we don't fail. We just have to trust Him and partner w...

In many games that require teammates or partners, it is so important to learn, understand and trust your partner. We don't operate alone. We have help, assistance and support in accomplishing a task. If we find ourselves attempting to operate on our own we will quickly calculate our ability and realize we are unable. However, when we realize that our energy and effort is only part of the equation,...

FAITH! It is a very important tenant in the Christian...well faith. But what is faith exactly and how to we utilize it to please God. In this series of episodes we endeavor to dive deeper into what faith is, how we are to utilize it and ultimately how we please God with it. But be aware, you may find that what has been called faith is really not faith at all. In short, faith is an active trust in...

Is God on the throne? No really, is He still on the throne of our hearts? I believe this is an important question for us to answer as we explore church hurt. Why? Well, if we have unwittingly replaced God with other people places or things, we have at the same time unwittingly set ourselves up for a world of hurt. And sometimes what we are calling hurt be it from the church or otherwise, is just a...

Are we in the right place or not? This is a question we have to be willing to ask and discern as we explore the idea of church hurt. Because, if we are in fact out of place or "misplaced" what we call hurt can and most often will be simply a result of our unwillingness to follow God's lead. While we don't condone and will not excuse anyone for poor and ungodly behavior, the "anyone" has to include...

It has been said that the distance between what we want and what we have is the size of our disappointment. Or said another way, the distance between what we were expecting and what actually occurred is the size of our disappointment. While that may be true, how often do we sit back and ask ourselves; do we even have a right to expect that? Is it fair, viable or even right to expect some of the th...

Church hurt is a big issue and item for discussion within the Christian family. And in that discussion we need to be more open, honest and direct about what the church really is, who created it, and the purpose for that creation. When we do I believe we will learn that the Church is an institution created by God, loved by God and it is being worked on / perfected by God. Because of that, it is unv...

Apologies tent to fall in one or two categories. I'm not doing it or I don't mean it. Let's develop a new category that supersedes all previous categories. This one is the, I'm sorry, I mean it and I'll prove it with my actions. No one is perfect, of that we are certain. And with that being the case, we can all stand to take a closer look at self and examine where we may have offended others. And...

Accountability is such an important issue that we must all come to grips with. However, more and more, it seems as though we are struggling to be responsible enough to take accountability for ourselves. It is easier to be defensive and point the finger at others who may be more at fault than us. And let's be clear, they may be more at fault. They may have issues. They may be guilty; but what is ou...