I want to encourage you as you set off on this year’s adventures to choose a Bible reading plan that is right for you. Let me give you a couple of resources to help:

Printable Plan from Zondervan: http://tiny.cc/LxQOc
There are several plans to choose. From 90 day intense plans to a three year goal of reading the bible completely.

Online track-able plan from YouVersion: http://www.youversion.com/about/reading-plans
All sort of plans are available with an added bonus of using your iphone, blackberry, android, or other mobile device to read.

If you want some guidance in choosing a right plan, or choosing a good translation of the Bible, don’t hesitate to call or email me.

Blessings & Happy New Year!

I was not sure how today was going to go, because I pray along the trail like I am talking out loud to a friend. (I can do that there, because no one is around). A funny thing happened, when Jackson just joined in with me. We went from talking to each other, to praying, to looking at a tiny frog, and then back to praying. It felt like we had been doing this for years together. I don’t know if today was a monumental day for him, but it sure was for me.

Spirituality is meant to be a part of our everyday lives. Everything is spiritual. Spiritual parenting is simply letting your kids see a glimpse of God in the normality of life.

Deuteronomy 6:4-8

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ^[a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

More than anything, I thin it is the risk vs reward nature of the show. These men are not reckless. They are taking a calculated risk. I feel that in church planting. I left a great steady ministry to launch out into seas that have been stormy at times. At times it feels reckless, but it is actually a calculated risk. I am calculating that the God who clearly called me to do this, will provide. That He will make me a “fisher of men”. I love this quote by St. Thomas Aquinas

“If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.”

Your life was not built to stay in the harbor. You were built by God to influence a world that is in need of His grace and compassion.

Embrace hope:

Stressful Life Events (Click here for pdf)

At the end of the day Kylie, Jackson, and I were walking back to the car.

Kylie asked, “How far did we walk today, Dad? One mile or maybe two?”

Laughing, I told her we probably walked between 5 to 7 miles.

Baffled she asked, “How come I can’t walk one mile at school, but I can walk 7 miles at the fair?”

Motivation is full of kinetic energy. It will keep you going when normally you would quit. As we begin to study the concept of being “Walk Across the Room” people, I want to challenge you to discover your motivation.

Here is mine:
“Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8)

I did not pay for the grace I have received. It was like receiving a free book of fair ride tickets that contained more tickets than your stomach can take. Do you sell them or give them away? Freely received; Freely give.

“‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said.” (Matthew 4:19)

How does someone become a disciple of Jesus? Read the Bible and Pray. Right? How many people do you know who read the Bible and pray, and live like the Grinch who Stole Christmas.

Discipleship is not about stagnant learning. Discipleship is about learning in Motion. Discipleship by Doing.

There is one young family in our church who are reading through the Gospels together. In reading they were convicted by Jesus’ reaction to the poor and underserved. They are now investigating what they can do to help the homeless that God keeps bringing across their path. That’s Discipleship by Doing.

I contend that what most Christians need is not a fill in the blank study that fills them up with knowledge, but a study that compels them to compassion, to commitment, to conviction, to action.

I don’t want TrueLife Church to be like a great halftime speech without playing the rest of the game. Study to Serve & Pray to Move (I could not think of a word that started with “P”. I broke the alliteration. LOL)