Baz Luhrmann in his famous 1999 sunscreen speech said this, “worrying is about as effective as trying to solve an algebra problem while chewing bubble gum.” In other words it won’t solve anything. We worry about everything, the economy, money, relationships, and the future. Yet none of our worrying has ever accomplished anything productive. Yet we still find ourselves consumed with worry and anxiety. Why is that? For me personally, the times I find myself worrying the most are the same times I’m lacking intimacy with my Creator and failing to take time to sit at His feet. In no way do I think my 3 suggestions below will rid you of ever worrying again, but I do believe the 3 points below will definitely be an encouragement to all of you to stop worrying, or at least worry less. (more…)

Austin Mann Photography

We are walking through Jim Collins book, ‘Good to Great’ that is filled with incredible information on how companies moved from being good to GREAT. Read about this Journey: The following our a few things I took out of Chapter 5: The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles).

‘What you can be the best in the world at (and, equally important, what you cannot be the best in the world at). This discerning standard goes far beyond core competence. Just because you possess a core competence doesn’t necessarily mean you can be the best in the world at it. Conversely, what you can be the best at might not even be something in which you are currently engaged.’ (Collins, 95)

What can you be the best in the world at? How would you answer this question? I know that depending on who you ask you will get a different answer. In our every day life the options are endless: A Certain Sport, Reading, Writing, Networking, Driving, Building things, Website Design. If you were asking the same thing to a company you would still get different answers.

However, what amazes me is the truth in the last line, ‘what you can be the best at might not be something in which you are currently engaged.’ Looking at my life I know that there are a lot of things that I could be best at. I want to be the best Husband, best follower of Christ, best employee. Yet I can’t be the best at all of those area’s, because I don’t have enough time. If I did everything I could to be the best employee, then I wouldn’t be the best Husband or Follower of Christ. I would be putting my job before my wife and my faith.

As a believer, I believe that we must do everything we do for the Glory of God. In doing that, we must strive to be the best we can be in our faith. Our relationship with the Lord overflows into the other roles of our lives. If we strive to serve the Lord the best we can, we will become a better husband, better student or better employee. But these are usually the things that take us away from our time with our savior. He is put on our to-do list and we try to get to him and check him off if possible, but at times the other demands must come first.

If we are to become the best in a certain field, I’m positive the first step is to give our best to the Lord. As it says in 1 Corinthians:

‘So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.’  1st Corinthians 10:31

 If you want to move from good to Great in your faith, you must focus on doing everything for the glory of God. There is no better way than this.

The chances are that if you have a 12-18 year old in your home he or she is struggling with looking at pornography. Yes even our sweet little girls have become inquisitive about this damaging phenomena. Just 2 days ago I asked a group of 200 teenage boys from ages 13-18, “How many of you have looked at porn within the last week?” All but 2 hands went up. Keep in mind the vast majority of these boys who were asked this question come from strong Christian homes. Most of which Mom and Dad have no clue they are looking at pornography. Or are too naive to think their sweet little boy would look at something so grotesque. Or even worse they choose to ignore it altogether.

What would you say Mom and Dad if I told you that you are making it to easy for your son to struggle with porn? Let me tell you how you are doing this. If your son or daughter possesses a smart phone, iPad, or iPod the chances are extremely likely they are viewing pornography on these devices. So the days of thinking you’re protecting your son or daughter from porn just because you’ve purchased covenant eyes for your family computer are over. They have access to this garbage right at their fingertips, literally. And we allow them to take their handheld electronic devices in their bedroom behind close doors and assume the best. Bad assumption.

Of these 200 boys, the vast majority told me their parents had no clue, and that they were scared to tell Mom or Dad they needed help. So I figured since they won’t tell you how you can help them, I will! I want to give Mom and Dad 3 easy steps to protecting your son from the damaging results of pornography.

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Photo from Startup Quote

We are walking through Jim Collins book, ‘Good to Great’ that is filled with incredible information on how companies moved from being good to GREAT. Read about this Journey: The following our a few things I took out of Chapter 4: Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith)

‘When Alan Wurtzel started the long traverse from near bankruptcy to stellar results, he began with a remarkable answer to the question of where to take the company: I don’t know. Unlike other leaders, Wurtzel resisted the urge to walk in with “the answer.” Instead, once he put the right people on the bus, he began not with answers, but with questions.’ (Collins, Good to Great)

One valuable lesson I have learned over the years is that it’s okay not to know the answer. Since I can remember, I have always tried to have an answer to whatever question was asked of me. Whether I knew the answer or not, I became pretty good at coming up with an answer. That was until the answers I would come up with just weren’t working or flat out weren’t right. (more…)

Austin Mann Photography

In a world that is instant everything it would seem our nearsightedness has only been strengthened by the culture that surrounds us. We often lose our farsighted vision. We live in a nearsighted culture with nearsighted vision. Which means we only care about the here and now, and less about what could be. And we apply this mindset to the decisions we make, the lives we live, and the dreams we chase. Here are three reasons I believe we fail to see with a farsighted focus: (more…)

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We are walking through Jim Collins book, ‘Good to Great’ that is filled with incredible information on how companies moved from being good to GREAT. Read about this Journey: The following our a few things I took out of Chapter 3: First Who…Then What.

‘He was so good at assembling the right people around him, and putting the right people in the right slots, that he just didn’t need to be there all hours of the day and night. That was Colman’s whole secret to success and balance.’ (Collins, 61) If this doesn’t sound like Christ, I don’t know who else it could sound like. He was specific in who he chose to follow Him and how he chose them. He didn’t pick all of his disciples right away with the first twelve people he ran into. But it was strategic and over a specific period of time. Sometimes we get so focused on filling a spot with someone that we don’t worry about who we put in that spot, we just want to  have it filled. When that happens, we often get distracted by all the extra work we have to do to help the person that was hired just to fill the position. Oftentimes, these people don’t make it for the long term and it ends up being more trouble then waiting for the right person to fill the slot. Each person Jesus picked he had a plan for them specifically.

I believe the above relates to jobs, marriages, friendships and more. If you can assemble the right people together, you will be amazed what the Lord will be able to do with your life. Don’t get so focused on filling a spot just because it needs to be filled. The spot being for a best friend, a spouse or a job. Wait for that person to fill the right spot and everything you do has the possibility to move from good to Great!

In 2009 Barna released a survey that indicated only 9% of Americans have a Biblical Worldview. I’m extremely curious as to what that statistic is 3 years later. What would intrigue me even more is what percentage of self-proclaimed Christians hold to a Biblical worldview. I often throw the term “Worldview” around other believers and I’ll get blank stares. The term “Worldview” actually derived it’s meaning from a German word known as Weltaschauung, which to put that phrase in English terms it simply means a comprehensive perspective  from which we interpret reality. “A Worldview is not merely a set of philosophical bullet points. It is essentially a master narrative, a fundamental  story about (a) what human life in the world should be like, (b) what has knocked it off balance, and (c) what can be done to make it right. No one can really function in the world without some working answers to those big questions, and so, to provide those answers, we adopt a world story, a narrative that explains things-a worldview.” [1] And I wholeheartedly believe that Chirstianity is the only Worldview that is able to identify the problem with the world (sin), which resulted in our loss of a relationship with God, yet offers the solution for us in God’s grace.
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“I don’t know what’s wrong or why this is happening to me. Everything used to seem so perfect, now all of a sudden it’s like everything is collapsing on me. I used to think everything in my family was perfect. It hurts me so much to know that they hurt. I can tell that it hurts them. Whenever I have to leave it seems like they are about to cry and in turn makes me want to cry. I feel like I could burst into tears any second just writing this. I don’t want to leave for 2nd semester. The empty nest is telling them apart. It almost seems as if they’ve forgotten how to love each other because their attention was always on us kids. Now that the youngest (me) is gone it all just seems to be unraveling. What frustrates me the most is knowing that they both feel awful and want to fix it. So why don’t they? I guess I just don’t understand. Sometimes I wonder why God did this to me. But I know that God has a reason He wants me to go through this. Maybe he is trying to strengthen me, I don’t know. I just know i need to trust in Him always because He has a plan for my life.”

Fearing Divorce, Female Age 19

We continue our journey of dissecting and better understanding differing Wordlviews from our own. Why is this important? It is important because it not only helps us connect with people who have these differing Worldviews, thus allowing us to have intelligent conversations with them, but it also affirms the Why we believe What we believe. One of the biggest blessings in my own life has been studying different worldviews, it has strengthened my own defense for Christianity (as if it needed one) and magnified my own personal faith. So my prayer is that over the past two months as we have scratched the surface of differing Worldviews it has done the same for you. Worldviews matter, and knowing why you believe what you believe is extremely important, especially in today’s day and age where everything has seem to become “relevant”. Today we look at Scientology:  (more…)