A couple of months ago, I attended a webinar where people were discussing the topic of clergy burnout. A substantial number of pastors and ministry leaders are burning out and leaving the ministry. This is not a surprising idea. This has been a reality for a while now. But what…

"I need to stay closely connected to Jesus." This is a statement I repeat to myself often. Accomplishing this activity every single day is harder than it looks. It's so easy to get distracted during the day with the work that I need to finish, family responsibilities that I need to fulfill, and errands that I need to do. I can…

Don't you sometimes wish you could predict the future? I know this ability would definitely help me prepare a lot better for what's to come in my life. But alas, we can't predict the future and perhaps that's for the best anyway. Do I really…

In this blog, I write a lot about taking care of the soul. I do this for good reason: our souls are the part of us that will be joining our God in heaven one day. Jesus declared, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" (Matt. 16:26 ESV). Cultivating the soul…

When I was young, my brother and I would sometimes have a friendly match of "speed reading" before bedtime. We would race to see which of us could read a passage of the Bible the fastest. Honestly, I don't ever recall any clear winners or losers in this game. But…

Here's a key insight that I repeat to myself on a regular basis: I am ultimately responsible for my own relationship with Christ. Nobody else is responsible for my spiritual growth and development—not a pastor or a spouse or a friend. I am personally responsible for this. And if…

Sometimes, I find it hard to pray. That's normal, right? Many people struggle to pray. In fact, I don't know a single person who has never struggled with prayer at some point in their life. But my struggle with prayer these days isn't about…

I want to show up to anything in life with my best godly self. I want to show up like this to my family. I want to show up like this to my job. I want to show up like this to every meeting. I want to show up like this when things aren't going my way. I want to…

Anything that is worth doing will inevitably consume this precious resource that we have so little of: time. Painting a masterpiece requires time. Building a world-changing organization will take time. Raising a close and tight-knit family will need time. Anything you want to do in life that…

The other day, I came home from a speaking event that took place out-of-town. When I got home, I was quite tired. However, I had one more thing I needed to do before I retired for the night: I had to finish preparing a sermon. And this was a sermon that…