Set Your Mind Above

Send us Fan Mail Chuck Norris is a legend larger than life. As the jokes would tell it, nothing could defeat him - except for death. Chuck Norris passed away today. Even someone as strong, healthy, and celebrated as he was cannot escape the fate of every man.  This is the simply reality - we're all gonna die. We don't know when, but it's going to happen to all of us. There is only o...

Send us Fan Mail My son turns six tomorrow, and I cannot beleive it. Where has time gone? We think that we have more time than we do with our children, but the fact is we don't.  Don't take your children for granted. Be present. Teach them. Enjoy every fleeting minute. You'll never get this wonderful time back.  #SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Send us Fan Mail We are planning a trip out west next month, and the highlight will be two very special national parks with 2000 year old trees we are showing the kids. How have they survived this long? Because of how their roots grow and interlock with one another, they never stand alone but stand strong together.  How are we to survive life's storms and the challenges to our faith? Not only...

Send us Fan Mail We have a new local celebrity here in Danville: a stuffed Elmo. He had been abandoned in a parking lot by accident, but some local resident has picked him up, cleaned him up, and started posting his great many new adventures. It's so wholesome and so fun.  Elmo's story is a lot like Israel's story and our story: abandoned, broken, forgotten, and lost. That is until...

Send us Fan Mail When we have an emergency, we call 911 here in America. Sometimes so many people can call that the dispatch centers can get overwhelmed in something called a call surge. That's when everyone is calling about the same event all at once.  We are called to flood heaven with a prayer surge. But the thing is God is never overwhelmed, he listens and acts, and the prayer of a righte...

Send us Fan Mail We all love a good fail video - it's innocent fun and when no one gets hurt, it can be quite comedic. We even laugh at our own expense, like I did when my neighbor caught me in 4k falling on my tush on the ice this past week.  However, while that's innocent, in this world sometimes people can take pleasure in the actual failure and fall of others. This is not a quality o...

Send us Fan Mail We didn't get the snow we had hoped for, not as much at least. Instead, we got a lot of ice. Ice is so hard to treat, and unless you have some salt to soften it up, you're going to be hard on luck to break it apart and clear a pathway.  We need to ensure two things for ourselves. First, we need to ensure that in humility we can soften our hearts so as to receive the trut...

Send us Fan Mail As we prepare for an incredible winter storm of historic measure, I have been to the store a few times to prep. Well, so has everyone else. It's been slammed, and yet people have been kind, sharing, and helpful as this little community has banded together to help each other endure a harsh weekend.  Preparation is not panic, in fact it's expected by God with many things....

Send us Fan Mail We started a challenge of writing out all of the New Testmanet + Psalms & Proverbs over this year with many of us here in Danville. It has proved to be so beneficial for my own growth as I slowly think about each word of Scripture. It's also led me to longer term goals to committ the Word to my memory.  We are to let the Word dwell richly in us. But that does not just hav...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to a brand new season of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! We got Ava a realistic baby doll for Christmas, the problem was it was damaged in shipping. We let her open it, but promised we could get her another one. She responded that she loved the doll just the way it was, because that's how God loves us - it doesnt matter how we look, all of us are special.  Today...

Send us Fan Mail I failed to reach many of my goals over this past year physically - and that was due to three reasons: setbacks, busyness, and lack of consistency.  Oftentimes these same three reasons keep us from attaining our spiritual goals. We must not give up despite setbacks. We must never be too busy for God's work. And we must strive to be diligent to stay consistent in our efforts t...

Send us Fan Mail One of my runs in a fantasy football league finally came to an end after 14 weeks. This is a "Chopped!" league - which means you win or you go home. If you lose even once by having the lowest score in the league, you're done for the season. No second chances. No next week. No chance for redemption.  How blessed are we that we do not serve a "one and done"...

Send us Fan Mail Our kids recently started doing the Elf on the Shelf tradition with me, and it has completely changed their mornings. They don't think about anything else first except for that little mischevious elf. They can't wait to wake up and see what new thing he has gotten into.  Their joy and excitement convicts me. What is my routine when I first wake up? Do I grab my phone? My...

Send us Fan Mail Our newest dog, Rusty, has grown far bigger than we ever dreamed. He also loves to go outside and get filthy, so bringing him back inside is always a process. If one of the kids lets him in before we can clean him up, he will track dirt all through the house and destroy the place in a matter of minutes.  The home is to be a sacred and safe place, according to Scripture. We must be...

Send us Fan Mail Starbucks released a limited edition collectors item in a glass iced coffee bear cup. People went nuts over them, because each store only got a few each. But others saw this also as an opportunity to fool others, setting up fradulent sites to con others into purchasing what they thought was the real thing.  We need to see the Kingdom and the Gospel in this way as well. We must sea...

Send us Fan Mail I'm teaching my oldest daughter to ride a bike, and it is a lot harder than she expected. She keeps forgetting to pedal, so she stops moving forward, and that's when she tips over and falls.  As Christians, our walk with Christ is much harder than many anticipate. But with God, all things are possible - we just have to keep moving forward. When we stop growing is when we...

Send us Fan Mail I thought it was finally going to happen this year - the Mariners were only 9 outs from advancing to the World Series for the very first time. But in the end, they fell short once again. I guess I'll say what I've had to say ever year: there is always next season.  But there is no next season with this life. We cannot fail to finish in our walk of faith. We must be faith...

Send us Fan Mail We went on vacation to NC and took our two dogs with us. Our large puppy had never experienced stairs before, and I didn't realize that some dogs didn't know naturally how to go up and down them. He was terrified and I had to carry him before training him. It took a lot of patience and gentleness, but finally he figured it out over the course of the week.  Those who are...

Send us Fan Mail We recently went to the Cincinatti zoo with some good friends, and one of the exhibits is for nocturnal animals. It was very dark, and at first the kids could not see a thing. Our friends reminded them to give it time, the longer they stayed in the dark the more comfortable their eyes would become.  Unfortunately, we can become all to comfortable with darkness too. We can be like...

Send us Fan Mail I love chicken and tomatoes. I eat them every week, and they are in many of the meals that we make as a family. However, after getting allergy testing done, it turns out my love for them might be what has been fueling a lot of my health issues. I'm allergic to them both.  Sin works that way in our lives too, doesn't it? Before we came to Christ, we participated in the fl...

Send us Fan Mail This week has been full of bloodshed and tragedy in the US - from school schootings, merciless and senseless murders, and assasination - hearts are heavy.  How does the Christian respond to this?  #SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Send us Fan Mail "You don't love me anymore" - these were the words of our soon to be 3 year old to her mother and me. Why? Because we told her that she had to eat her dinner. We had to laugh - kids can be so dramatic. The rules are there because we love you, kiddo.  We're not all that different as the children of God. Sometimes we doubt God's love, because we don't g...

Send us Fan Mail Fantasy Football is back! To draft a good team, you have to remember several things. One, you can't overload on one position - you need to cover all your bases, because each position is important. Second, you need depth - have compitent back ups ready to go. Third, you need to keep your eye on the waiver wire and expand your team.  The church is not all that different. You ca...

Send us Fan Mail Today is a special episode - my daughter Ava has been asking to help with the podcast for quite sometime. Today, she finally got that opportunity - and she even got to pick the topic. She wanted to discuss the dangers of vanity.  Tune in to hear a discussion between my daughter and I about what we should pursue in this life, and remembering to hold things in their proper place so...

Send us Fan Mail We had an unexpected life event last week, as my wife ended up in the hospital for a period of four days. Over those four days, we received an outpouring of love and support from our local church family. We needed help, and they responded.  This is how God designed the church. It's not like a family, it is a family. Serving one another is never a burden, nor is there ever a l...