Set Your Mind Above

Send us Fan Mail My youngest daughter loves watching the birds, so my inlaws purchased us a clear birdhouse that mounts to our window for her to watch them eat and nest. As the kids waited for a bird to arrive, they asked what would happen if we ran out of seeds. I told them God would feed them like he does every day, and they responded, "Just like you feed us?" That's right kiddos....

Send us Fan Mail I came home for lunch expecting to hear my children greet me at the door, but had forgotten they were on a play date. So I sat there eaching lunch in silence, which is very rare. You would think I would enjoy it, but actually, I missed them. Sure our house is chaotic more often than not, but it's where we all belong: together.  In the same way, children belong together with u...

Send us Fan Mail I was driving around Danville with a friend who had never been to my little town before when he said, "Danville: quite simply the nicest town." I asked why he said that, and he pointed to the water tower. Friends, I have driven past this tower a thousand times and never seen that. He noticed it after seeing it once with fresh eyes.  That is often how scripture discovery...

Send us Fan Mail Children's television programs are not what they used to be more often than not. Rather than promoting what is good and right, imorrality and godlessness are promoted and packaged as something that is "good" in the form of a cartoon. If we're not careful, we'll teach our children to accept the lies of Satan because they were packaged in the fun form of a f...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back after an extended break to the new Season 4 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! Over the new year, I started working out again because I really needed to. Actually, I joined CrossFit - and I realized just how out of shape I am. But thankfully, I'm not expected to keep up with everyone who has been there for years. I'm just expected to do my best and modify t...

Send us Fan Mail After five years of living without, Danville finally has it's very own free standing Chick-Fil-A! We are so excited and have been already like, 5 times lol. During the grand opening, one of the workers was serving us and when we thanked her she said, "My pleasure! I keep forgetting to say that." It's part of their script to respond with that expression, but sho...

Send us Fan Mail We're back after a delay for a few weeks - and that occured with the passing of my grandmother Jackie Sipe, who we called Gigi. Her funeral was beautiful, and I was thankful to get to be a part of it. After the funeral, one of the women from the church told me something special after someone had expressed their sympathy for my loss. She said, "You know...nothing is lost...

Send us Fan Mail A few weeks ago my wife and I attended a fundraising event to support the adoption agency Sacred Selections. I had hoped to win a beutiful bracelet for my wife in the silent auction, but I kept getting outbid by someone all night. After a while, I realized something hilarious - my wife and I had been unknowingly bidding against each other! Needless to say, we didn't leave wit...

Send us Fan Mail We are getting ready for our road trip to North Carolina for Thanksgiving, and that means making sure the car is ready for the voyage. We're not just going down the road, we're going up into hard mountain roads that twist and turn all the way. We've got to make sure we're ready for that kind of journey. Well...how do you view your journey of faith? Jesus says t...

Send us Fan Mail Hey! I'm alive! Thanks for being so patient with us - we've had everything from family issues to sickness going on the last few weeks. On top of all of that, while my wife was caring for three sick kids and her sick husband, she hit her foot and broke her toe. Now you would think, it's just a little toe, no big deal right? Wrong. It impacts everything. Well...that&a...

Send us Fan Mail We ordered some new bibles for some of our newest converts, and one of the bibles had a unique issue with it. The entire text had been bound and printed completely upside down. It's unlike any other issue I have ever seen with a bible. I had to life at the irony of it all, because, well...the Word of God is the thing that turns the world upside down. Everything about Jesus&ap...

Send us Fan Mail My wife and I celebrated 9 years of marriage yesterday, and I am blown away at how much has changed since the day we said "I Do". We have moved three times, had three children, and worked with three churches. But the biggest differences come in our relationship: how much deeper we love, fuller we know, and intimately we understand each other. Well...marriage teaches us a...

Send us Fan Mail My son learned a lesson the hard way today. Even though we have often told him not to touch anything on the stove, he reached his hand up into the air fryer that was on the stove and burned his hand. Sometimes we have to learn lessons the hard way...or do we? Well...Proverbs 1 teaches us that we don't. We choose many times to learn things the hard way by not listening, and th...

Send us Fan Mail Today I really struggled - I just didn't know what to write. It's not that I didn't have an idea of what I wanted to say, but I just couldn't say it. We've all struggled with writer's block before I'm sure, and it's in those times you wish people could just look into your heart or your mind to know what it is you're feeling or thinking....

Send us Fan Mail Children want their parents attention. Constantly my kids are asking, "Dad, are you watching?" or, "Dad! Look! See me?" The idea of me watching them does not cause them anxiety but great joy, why? Because no matter what they are doing, they want to please me. Well...as children of God, how does the idea of Him watching make us feel? If the answer is fearful, th...

Send us Fan Mail We have a CFA coming to Danville finally!!! I have passed by nearly every day and while you couldn't tell at all what they were building at first, now it's starting to take on the very prominent features of a stand alone CFA location. The more it comes along, the less it will be mistaken for anything else. Well...do we recognize that this is how discipleship is supposed...

Send us Fan Mail At Starbucks today, a former disgruntled worker came up with a clipboard asking me to sign a petition against his former employee. He said that they had broken over 200 labor laws and that he was wrongfully terminated, and with my signature and others they could help to stop union-busting for baristas. I didn't sign his petition. Not because I didn't want to help, but be...

Send us Fan Mail I was golfing with some brothers this past weekend when a ball came flying our direction right next to our tee box. Being ingnorant of golf etiquitte as a novice, I leaned over to pick up the stray ball and thrown it back towards the party in front of us. "Don't touch that ball!" my friend hollered at me. Apparently, that's a no no in golf. I had no idea. I tho...

Send us Fan Mail I tried to get Scott Beyer on the program last month, but both of our recorded sessions had technical difficulties. Luckily, his essay made it through - and I wanted to share that with you today. Behold, the year of free beef! I hope you get as much out of this episode as I did, and be sure to subscribe to both Scott's "Love Better Podcast" and his free biblical vid...

Send us Fan Mail We're back after an extended break!  We were in Oregon for almost three weeks, and most of the time we were there, my son Dane he kept saying how much he missed home. Well we finally got back home, and now he says how much he misses Oregon. Go figure - he couldn't wait for what was coming, and now he misses what was. Well...we can be the same way. But if we spend all of...

Send us Fan Mail We had a package delivered last night that was full of breakable things: picture frames, glass soap pumps, etc. The way it was delivered, however, was mind blowing. He came to our front porch, stopped, and then threw it onto our porch and it rolled until it slammed into our door. Luckily, nothing was broken, but he could have damaged everything inside because he didn't handle...

Send us Fan Mail I pulled through Starbucks today, and the car in front of me paid for my drink. It was a small, sweet gesture - a random act of kindness. I was asked, "Would I like to pass it on?" Well, of course! How could I receive a blessing, but not turn around and also then give that same blessing? Well...such is the case with every blessing we have been given in Christ. We have be...

Send us Fan Mail 4 years ago we planted a little southern magnolia tree in our front yard, and since then it seems like it has done just about nothing but hang on and survive. No blooms. Very little growth. I was just about to rip it up until the most amazing thing happened...a single bloom appeared on our little tree. This whole time I thought it was doing nothing, but as it turns out it just nee...

Send us Fan Mail We're back with our third guest interview on the podcast, and this time it is with a cherished friend - Jared Bollman of Beaverton, Oregon. Though he's a Texan at heart, he's holding down the fort in the Pacific Northwest and doing a great job of it. More than anything, he loves being a husband and a father. This episode is so, so important - especially at it pertai...

Send us Fan Mail I love my coffee, and I love my coffee shop - it's where I do most of my study. Depending on how long I'm there my drink order differs; sometimes I order a cortado, sometimes I order a flat white. But if I'm there for a long time, I order a bottomless coffee. No matter how many times I empty my cup, they fill it right back up - I never run out of coffee. Well...God&...