Live. Love. Lead.

     Growing up in church, teaching about God's love was limited. I believe, there could have been a fear of speaking about God's love because some thought it might somehow diminish His grandiosity, His otherness, & perhaps make Him too human. Or maybe teaching about His love was limited because we, the humans, could not wrap our minds around it especially in a world that has so misused so rich of a word--love.      I struggle trying to comprehend God's love because my sight is often made cloudy by my sin, my all-too-often smallness of faith, & honestly a perspective that limits who God is because it's so focused on my shortcomings.      Recently, the Lord has been working on my heart specifically regarding His love. It started as I was reading through I John.  John writes "We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us" (4:16). As I read through the entire epistle, I was struck by the notion of "coming to...

     This year for me as a rookie leader was great and tough all at the same time.  One of the areas I wish to do better in is slowing down and investing all my heart in quieting the noise and hearing God's voice.  My goal is to create sacred spaces where I refuse to allow interrupting thoughts a foothold in my mind.      Lately, I have been pursuing a dream that I have had from a young age.  As I struggle between whether I should invest time and money into something that is not so "safe" I have been reading the book of Judges.  One of my favorite passages is about Gideon hearing God's voice in the overwhelming currents of fear.  The first time Judges records that God spoke to Gideon and Gideon heard His voice was when the Angel of the Lord came to Gideon.  Gideon was threshing wheat in the wine vat because there was fear the Midianites might take the wheat (Judges 6:1-12).  The first thing God tells Gideon was an affirma...

     Recently, I have had several conversations with friends where we have wrestled with the question of, "Are we where we are supposed to be?"  Often we have a tendency to paint of picture of where we should be based purely on the fact that we are a certain age, have accomplished a certain task, or have a certain amount of knowledge.  In this vein, the sole determinant of what chapter in the journey we "should" be living are milestones that we have set; instead of being based primarily on where G-D's presence resides.  This style of life only leads to frustration by creating a glare so that we cannot see the miracles that HaShem is daily weaving for us.        Just weeks ago I struggled, professionally, with where I was supposed to be.  During that same time, I "happened" to be reading Numbers 9:15-23, where HaShem granted the specificity of His direction to His people.  It says, "According to the word of HaShem would the Ch...