Blog

A Gift from my 4 year old – Parenting

A Gift from my 4 year old – Parenting
One of the great things in my life is parenting my children.  There have been seasons in my life though where I had missed the reality of that in my life.  It wasn’t that my guys were hellions, for I can’t remember a day when I wished I had never had them, but there were sadly,…
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The Great Find – Self-Discovery

The Great Find – Self-Discovery
One of the greatest adventures that many undertake is the journey of discovering who they really are as a person.  Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher, said that the unexamined life is a waste of life itself but what does this really mean?  After all, we know what we like, what we think ... don't we?…
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Judge Less. More Filling.

Judge Less. More Filling.
“Judge not lest you be judged” are haunting words for me.  I am coming to realize that a constant problem of the human creation is the propensity to judge others.   I think there are a variety of reasons for this but for our purposes here, suffice to say it is the natural consequence of…
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Divine Love is… Free

Divine Love is… Free
  Freedom is the very nature of divine love, for it is when love is freely given and freely received that it is, in fact, healthy love.  As soon as we attach expectations and seek to meet those exceptions by use of coercion or manipulation love ceases to be truly life-giving. Consider these simple parables;…
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Love is… Generous

What is Love? Consider the tree.  The tree provides shade, respite from the blazing heat of the sun to everyone one with no expectation of return.  To this end, love is genuinely maturing when it loves with no strings attached and no expectation of  personal benefit.  When we love others, do we have an expectation…
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Love is…Humble

Brennan Manning once said that true humility is not a poor opinion of yourself, rather, no opinion of yourself.  So it is with authentic love.   Love simply loves unaware that it is actually loving - it just does.  Love is unselfconscious.   Consider a lamp.  An illumined lamp gives light not because it is…
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The New Scorecard – Church

The New Scorecard – Church
There is a chronic issue that is burning out pastors and church leaders all over North America.  It creates the environment for workaholism and often seriously sidelines many genuinely called and gifted ministers of the Good News.  The root of much of this toxicity has to do with the way many evaluate and judge the success or failure of Church communities. …
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Childlike Faith – Approaching God with empty hands

Childlike Faith – Approaching God with empty hands
There is a lovely story in Matthew 19 where Jesus welcomes little children and spends some time with them and encouraging that to such as these belongs the Kingdom of Heaven. 13-15 One day children were brought to Jesus in the hope that he would lay hands on them and pray over them. The disciples shooed…
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Gifts,Talents, and Christian Community

Gifts,Talents, and Christian Community
Cultivating Christian community has been a wonderful journey for our Amadeo community. We have let go of some things that we think have been unhelpful to vibrant Christian community. We have picked a few of those things up again for a time and a purpose - and then laid them aside again. While this has…
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One Size Fits All Spirituality? – Ministry

One Size Fits All Spirituality? – Ministry
As a recovering "Big Box" church pastor, I understand a lot of the challenges that face pastors. I have experienced the challenge they face to keep the church rolling, to provide a great Sunday service, and because of the size, the most efficient way to teach and minister to folks is the familiar meeting style.…
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