The wiseman who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes makes a series of observations about the futility of life. Listen to what he says in Chapter 6:7-12: “All a man’s work is for his mouth…yet this appetite is never satisfied.” You work all your life to feed the beast – your family, your ego, opinions of other people. Yet those appetites are never quite satisfied, so without the correct perspective it can feel like futility. “There are many words which only…
“Farewell to Shadowlands” is the title of the last chapter of C.S. Lewis’ book The Last Battle, the last book in The Chronicles of Narnia series. Lewis used the word “Shadowlands” to refer to life on Earth, and in the last chapter, time in the “Shadowlands” comes to an end. He writes, “The term is over, the holidays have begun…this is the morning.” This is an excellent way to describe our time on Earth. Shadows are created when light is…
(Audio transcription below) This morning I am going to use the sermon from the smart man in Ecclesiastes, who we think is Solomon, and then I’m going to show a video called Between Days which captures the ending mood of the preacher. The video is titled Between Days and is about Abdulah and Sehaveta Kadenic, a Bosnian couple displaced from their home in the 1990’s by war. They moved to Norway for 12 years, but Sehaveta had a series of…
(Audio transcription below) Today we’re going to talk about our connection to our children. If you don’t have any children, or even if you do, I think there are a lot of parallels here just as leaders leading other people. If there’s anybody in your down line at your business, there’s a lot of overlay here, how you as a boss work with employees or how you as a dad are with your sons and daughters. I’m going to use…
Leadership takes real courage. So often you are ready to jump into your next leadership challenge and immediately encounter resistance! You certainly need to use wisdom on when to jump into your next challenge, but there will always be threats. Err on the side of courage, not fear! Randy Alcorn offers a good reminder about our work Roger Whitney hosts an excellent podcast on all things retirement. If you are over 55, this will help you. If you are younger,…
(Audio transcription below) I’m going to try to unfold some of the reasons why marriage is important, but my main goal today is to give you guys an action plan. I really hope everybody leaves with a training plan for the marriage you have now or the marriage you’d like to have one day or maybe even to fix something going on in your marriage right now. Think about that as we go. Is anyone in here a Nascar fan?…
This week our focus will be on marriage. As the video above reminds us, it can be quite a challenge for most men, because we are wired to fix things. Below is some helpful information that you can read or watch. Growing in your marriage is one of the most important investments you can make. Look forward to talking more about this Friday! Paul Tripp: Your Biggest Problem in Marriage The Secret to a Good Marriage John Piper sermon for…
Today we are talking about leadership. This feels like a big task, it is Iron Leadership after all. My most memorable lesson in leadership came as a middle schooler. Something I used to be known for was my size, I was always big for my age when I was growing up and was primed for football. Seventh grade was the first time I was able to play on a tackle football team and I found myself as a guard on…
For some of you, this is the most important information I could share with you. It has to do with your priorities, the ability to make your priorities your focus and leave everything else to someone else. This is an area of struggle for me. I can talk myself into having too many priorities and cave into the urgent rather than staying focused on what is important. Here are three resources I have found helpful. You may benefit from them…
Only 4 months to train for the July 2024 Summer Olympics. You are all going to watch some part: track and field, basketball, rowing, swimming. Right now, the athletes who plan to compete in those games are on a training schedule which will land them in the best shape of their lives so they can compete for a gold medal. Perhaps one area you need to really work on is today’s topic…friendship. In my opinion, the best movie about friendship…