The Abundant Life Blueprint

Here is today's communion meditation. This month our message is... The Best Use of Time, which has me thinking about accelerated results. The other day I heard someone say that it's easier to get much bigger results in a short period of time than it is to get smaller results over a long time. Something I observed while working in the gym is that some people get fast results by doing something extr...

Here is today's communion meditation.   Easter was a reminder that we have God living within us and he is the source of everything good. He is the source of life, light, truth, energy, love, health, and so much more. If we need one of these things we can go directly to the source. For us to produce fruit in our lives we must stay connected to the source.  Today's communion is a time of g...

Here is today's communion meditation.   I used to play and coach college baseball, and the other day I was reminded that one of the keys to pitching in baseball is the combination of pitches. It's often a pitcher's ability to execute combinations of pitches that determines his success. This reminded me of the 1-2-3 combination of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Easter/First Fruits. We had a r...

Happy Easter! Here is today's communion meditation.   In the Gospels one of the phrases that is used in the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus is "Preparation Day." In the Jewish culture the day before the Sabbath was Preparation Day. Everything needed for the Sabbath had to be prepared on the day before. Preparation came before rest. And after the death of Jesus the women prepared...

Here is today's communion meditation. Today is day 2 of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which a reminder to clean out our old ways so that we can walk in newness of life. This was a time in the Old Testament when the people were to clean out all of the old leaven in their house.  1 Corinthians 5:7-8 says, "Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. Fo...

Here is this week's Yearly Cycle update.   Today we start the 7 days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is a reminder of the sinless body of Jesus. Unleavened bread is a reminder that Jesus is the bread that came down from Heaven, and he is our righteousness.  This is a time to remember that he became sin so that we could be righteous and have God on our side. Here is our filter for...

Here is today's communion meditation.   As we celebrate Good Friday and Easter it's a time to remember that God is for us. Romans 8:31-32 says, " What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" Today's communi...

Tonight,  is Passover, which is like a big communion meal. It's like communion for the year.  Here is today's communion meditation.   The other day I was at my daughter's gymnastics practice and noticed that there was the temptation for me to be looking at my phone rather than watching what my girls were doing, and I felt God prompting me to be more present and watch them. As I watc...

Here is today's communion meditation.   The other day my youngest daughter was drawing a picture of Jesus. When she finished, she brought it over to me and said, "I even drew the holes in his hands." With Passover and Easter approaching it got me thinking about the significance of the holes in his hands and what they mean for us.  My first thought was the Old Testament scriptures about h...

Here is today's communion meditation. This month our message is... The Best Use of Time.  Unfortunately, we can waste a lot of time. And I think one of the biggest wastes of time is worrying, venting, toiling, feeling bad for ourselves, complaining, and meditating on ways people have wronged us or hurt our feelings. None of these things improve our situations, in fact they usually make them w...

Here is today's communion meditation. This month our message is... The Best Use of Time.  The other day I almost missed an amazing moment in my day. My kids were coloring, and they asked me to color with them. My initial response was that I had other things to do, but I reconsidered and starting coloring with them. A concept in our program is "catching bids," and not missing opportunities to...

Here is today's communion meditation.   Yesterday we talked about how starting and stopping can be costly and I was reminded that sometimes we are start believing God for things and have high expectations, but then we get defeated by time. We set a deadline and limit God in our mind, and when we don't see the result in time, so we stop believing.   I feel like something God is sayin...

Here is the Message for April. Our message for the year of 2023 is "God Saved the Best Until Now," and our message for April is... The Best Use of Time This week we have some important dates coming up: Passover (Thursday 4/6), which starts the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread Easter Sunday, which starts a 50 day sprint to the Day of Pentecost.   This is a season of acceleration. In the Old Tes...

Here is today's communion meditation. Recently we were driving down the highway and I was reminded of the impact of having to start and stop. Starting and stopping takes time and can be costly. Most of the slow downs on the highway have to do with people entering and exiting from the highway. In an organization changing directions constantly can also costly, it has been shown that high turnover in...

Here is today's communion meditation.   The other day my daughter bought some magnetic rocks. As we were playing with the rocks it reminded me of the power of forces that we can't see and how magnets repel and attract. Sometimes in our life we push after goals or things we want to accomplish, but the closer we get to them it seems like they are repelled away. When magnets repel, the closer th...

Here is today's communion meditation.   In Matthew 7:14 Jesus said that the path or road that leads to life is narrow. Some versions translate it as being hard, difficult, or constricted but the original Greek word used for narrow means to be compressed. The road that leads to life is compressed. Life tries to put pressure on us to quit and conform to the pattern of the world. One of the hard...

Here is today's communion meditation. Lately I have been thinking about how grace overrides. In Genesis, it says that as long as the earth remains there will be seedtime and harvest or sowing and reaping. But I feel like God has been showing me lately that grace overrides. We have all probably sown things that we don't want multiplied back to us, and fortunately grace can override, so that we get...

Here is today's communion meditation. Lately we have talked about creating a virtuous cycle by outdoing one another in showing honor. We can also create a virtuous cycle with God by honoring him. In 1 Samuel 2:30 God says, "Those who honor me, I will honor."  And in Psalm 50:23 God says, " He who sacrifices a thank offering honors me."  One of the ways we can honor God is with consistent...

Here is today's communion meditation. Yesterday we talked about Romans 12:10 which says to outdo one another in showing honor. When we do this, I think it creates a virtuous cycle where we begin to spiral upward. In life we can be in vicious cycles where it seems like we are spiraling out of control and everything compounds in the wrong direction or we can be in virtuous cycles where everything is...

Here is today's communion meditation.   Romans 12:10 says to outdo one another in showing honor. Lately I have been coaching my daughter's tennis team, and in tennis it's hard to really play with someone who isn't skilled. But when you have someone who can really play it becomes much more fun. I think it's the same way in showing honor to one another. When we are constantly trying to outdo ea...

Here is today's communion meditation. Time is an interesting thing... it can seem to go by faster or slower. In the Spring, time often can feel like it's moving faster and the days can seem to go by really quickly. Time is a gift from God, and I think he expects us to learn to be in control of our time by learning how it speeds up and slows down.  When time is accelerating think of God accele...

Here is this week's Yearly Cycle update.     The concept of self-management is a universal principle, in that God expects  us to govern ourselves by being in tune with him. We must all learn how to self-manage our  own lives, but self-management requires a completely different mindset. To be a good self-manager, means take responsibility for the results that we produce,  b...

Here is today's communion meditation.  Psalm 52:8-9 says: But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever. 9 For what you have done I will always praise you in the presence of your faithful people. And I will hope in your name, for your name is good. Notice that flourishing in the house of God and tru...

Here is today's communion meditation.   Psalm 52:7 talks about a person who is not doing things God's way. It says: “Here now is the man  who did not make God his stronghold  but trusted in his great wealth  and grew strong by destroying others!” The   opposite   of this is that a person who makes God their stronghold will trust in God and grow strong by building othe...

Here is today's communion meditation. In Exodus chapters 33 and 34 Moses asks God to show him his glory. And God responds with,  “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, fo...