Dec 23, 2015 | Christmas, Contentment, Family, Relationships, Stress, Uncategorized
Christmas was magical to me as a young boy. The fresh-cut pine tree loaded with lights and ornaments; piles of snow outside; the Charlie Brown Christmas special; holiday kielbasa and raspberry cream pies; family gatherings; opening gifts; no school for two weeks… for...
Nov 25, 2015 | Beauty, character, Contentment, Family, friendship, Marriage, Relationships, Uncategorized
The Opalewski family has a tradition every year at Thanksgiving breakfast: we go around the table, and each person shares what they’re thankful for this past year. (I know… not too original.) I look forward to this tradition every year, because there are always some...
Nov 20, 2015 | Calling, Career, character, Contentment, Family, Leadership, Marriage, Pastor's Kids, Productivity, Relationships, Rest, Stress, Work
Wouldn’t it be great if all a leader needed to know was 3 things? Wouldn’t their lives be simpler? The truth is, a leader needs to know more than 3 things—one reason more books on leadership exist than we’ll ever be able to read in our lifetime. I’ve lost count of the...
Nov 13, 2015 | Calling, Career, character, Depression, Family, Leadership, Relationships, Rest, Stress
Being a pastor has its great points. Being a pastor has its not-so-great points. Some people have a naïve view of pastors. They’re convinced since he or she is doing the Lord’s work, a pastor’s life is a charmed life… exempt from normal human pressures, and the wear...
Oct 29, 2015 | Anger, character, Contentment, Family, Fear, Forgiveness, friendship, Jealousy, Relationships, Stress, Uncategorized
It’s time to kill the monster. Jealousy… aka the green-eyed monster… threatens us all. It’s an emotion everyone deals with occasionally. Its roots are insecurity, fear, self-doubt, or anxiety. Jealousy often emerges when someone achieves something you’ve wanted...
Oct 1, 2015 | Calling, Career, character, Contentment, Family, friendship, Marriage, Productivity, Relationships, Rest, Stress, Uncategorized, Work
News broke this week that 11 million Volkswagen vehicles worldwide were fitted with the software designed to trick emissions testing equipment. A few months ago during the summer, NFL fans were inundated with Deflate-gate—a controversy over the illegal deflation of...
