Episoder
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Recently I sent an email to a mentor of mine worried about where my life was going. I would characterize it as a quarter-life crisis. A lot of that stems
from whatās known as your ācallingā
Iām not going to discuss āhow to find your callingā on here, or anything like that.
Instead, I want to share why ācallingā should be something that frees you.
Ezekiel 2:4-7The Message (MSG)
3-7 He said, āSon of man, Iām sending you to the family of Israel, a rebellious nation if there ever was one. They and their ancestors have fomented rebellion right up to the present. Theyāre a hard case, these people to whom Iām sending youāhardened in their sin. Tell them, āThis is the Message of God, the Master.ā They are a defiant bunch. Whether or not they listen, at least theyāll know that a prophetās been here. But donāt be afraid of them, son of man, and donāt be afraid of anything they say. Donāt be afraid when living among them is like stepping on thorns or finding scorpions in your bed. Donāt be afraid of their mean words or their hard looks. Theyāre a bunch of rebels. Your job is to speak to them. Whether they listen is not your concern. Theyāre hardened rebels.
Calling, faithfulness, whatever, is about being faithful in whatever situation youāre in. Ask yourself the question āHow can God use me where I am, right now?ā The success of your calling isnāt based on resultsā¦itās based on obedience.
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Refugee: A person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.
The Syrian refugee crisis has long since faded from the incessant 24/7 news cycle, but that doesnāt mean the crisis is over. Whenever I read the news, I try to interact with it not as a Republican or Democrat, but as a Christian (yes, you can be a Christian and be either one).
So what does the Bible say about refugees? how should that impact our national policy? Thankfully, youāve got 38 news channels that can cover both of those questions. Instead, for us, I wanted to share a little bit about someone who we donāt traditionally think of as a refugee.
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Mangler du episoder?
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I never thought that I would actually become hurt by the church. In fact, I preferred the term ādisenfranchised.ā
But what I discovered was that there was more to āchurchā than I realized.
I realized that:
Being hurt by the church is a very real possibilityā¦because of āwhoā the church isThere are many stories of people who were hurt by the church and left the faith. Iām going to share a story of someone who had every right to leave the faith, but continued onMy commitment to Christ is much more than personalThanks for journeying with me during this episode.
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If youāve listened to this podcast for any amount of time, you know that I am passionate about marriage. Thatās why Iām excited to share a conversation I had with a good friend of mine ā a blogger, fellow homeschooler, dedicated husband and father, and now, published author!
During this conversation, we discuss two of the seven rings (the Wedding RING stage and the RestoRING stage). I know youāll find this valuable, and itās exciting to be able to share this with you.
Click here to find out more about Jackie, and pre-order his new book, The 7 Rings of Marriage
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There has been a lot of discussion about what makes a man a man. On one side, thereās the camp that says a real man can change car tire, grow a beard, and chop down a tree. Thereās another camp on the other end of a spectrum that says a real man is something someone identifies as. And of course there are people all along the spectrum.
With this list, let me inject some fun and (what I think) common sense. Because if thereās one thing for certain, a real man operates out of love and respect.
But youāll need to listen to this episode to find out more.
Which item on the list cause you to pause? Because that item is one to focus on intentionally improving.
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"Barriers to entry." That's a term that I first heard in a business class during my freshman year of college.
[IMAGE]
But this term applies to more than just business; it applies to our faith as well. In this episode, I explore what the barriers to entry are to a relationship with Christ, both man made, and God ordained.
Question: What barriers to entry do you see to a relationship with Christ?
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Itās 2016, and a season of resolutions, goals, and new beginnings. Iāve got plenty of my own goals, but what I want to share with you is not something for 2016, because I think a quick review of this past year will help all of us have a good 2016, including:
The one constant I experienced in 2015ā¦and hope to experience in 2016.What I stopped, and what we started.How my training in the Marine Corps helped get me through 2015, and how that translates to my faith today.Live Life Better is back, and Iām grateful for your continued support during my hiatus the past few months. Iām doing this in a much more sustainable fashion, which allows for many other thingsā¦but more on that later; I think Loretta will have fun weighing in on all of that!
Take care,
Philip
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As someone who is crazy about my family but also enjoys working hard to make a living, itās easy to let work come before family.
Iāve touched on the topic of work/life balance before and provided tools and strategies to achieve the elusive goal of a balance between work and life.
But here's the kicker:Tools and strategies are useless, unless you know what to look for. You canāt repair a flat tire if you donāt know where the leak is. In the same way, you canāt perform any corrective action regarding your work life balance if you donāt know what the baseline indicators are.
Thankfully, if youāre married and with kids like I am, there are 3 Indicators of a healthy family lifeā¦and theyāre all built in to the family deal.
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Weāre only 5 months into 2015, but Iāve had more than my fair share of changesā¦
I could fill this entire post with all of the changes, but just to clue you inā¦Iāve just recently switched jobs, my wife is 5 months pregnant, and my grandfather died.
Lots of changes, to be sure. And a lot of the time, it creates problems in our relationships.
But Iāve found two constants during this period of changes and transitions. What are they? Listen on to find out.
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A recent Pew Research Center poll found that the Christian population in the United States has dropped down to 70%.
What does that mean for us a Christians? And what does that mean about how we do āchurchā?
There are a myriad of reasons why the church may be getting smaller (in the US at least), and what we can do about it. No doubt, by the time you read this, there will be plenty of people voicing their opinions and providing what they deem to be the best answers.
My goal with what Iām going to share with you isnāt to provide a new āmodelā so that the old one can quickly fade into memory. Instead, I hope you can hear my heart behind the thought; that you can understand weāre all working on the same goal: to share the love of Christ everyone one we meet.
The more barriers we can remove to that, the better. Even if it means the barrier is the church.
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Death has a funny way of putting things into perspective
When you attend the funeral of an elderly loved one, there are certain things missing:
There arenāt any familiar eyes to look into
No frail hands to hold
And no old stories to reminisce about.
If youāve every lost someone you love, this episode is for you. Youāll dwell on the memory of the past, but be encouraged in the hope of the future.
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The conversation was not what I expected.
A good friend of mine met me for coffee, and as far as I knew, he had everything going for him.
You know, things like:A good job, with solid benefits. His wife and daughter had just moved into a new house, and things were going really well. Which is why is threw me off when he told me he almost lost his job.
As he listed off all the things he almost lost, he left off one thing. But what he did about that is even better.
I thought he had everything going before we had coffee. But now I know heās on the right track, regardless of what happens at his job.
What did he leave off? Listen to find out, but I hope you would be able to leave it off of the list of things you would lose if you found yourself in the same situation.
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Over the past few weeks Iāve discussed hot button issues.
My confession about the CIA torture report, Sean Palmerās insights on race, culture, and the church, and last weekās candid discussion about sexual identity and faith all shared one thing in common.
Easy to talk about, harder to receive.When grace is extended, there are two parts to it:
Receiving it (we have the option to reject it), andAccepting it (we have the option to keep from internalizing the grace).This episode is for you if youāve ever felt awkward, indebted, and grateful when someone youāve hurt has extended grace to you.
So, whatās the hardest thing to accept about grace? Click play to find out.
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It all started at a dinner party.
We had just spent that past few minutes talking about each other's background, and really seemed to connect. I had already introduced him to my wife, Loretta, and we were already thinking about having dinner with them sometime.
But then I was caught off guard.
We talked about kids and all sorts of things...and then he introduced me to his partner.
Maybe that caught you off guard...or maybe it didn't
As society has an on-going discussion about homosexuality and sexual identity, rarely is the church silent. But when she speaks, she's lacking grace, gentleness, and respect.
In this episode, I talk about where we've gone wrong, as a church, but how we can do right, as individuals. You'll discover that the body of Christ is beautiful and varied, and that we can enage culture graciously, gentlty, and respectfully.
The new sexual revolution isn't going away, and you as an individual should know why you stand where you stand, and how to translate that into every day life.
It doesn't matter if you're as liberal as Rachel Held Evans (who has written some good stuff), or as conservative as the Southern Baptist Convention: When you put a face to an "issue", it quickly becomes personal:
About as personal as a savior who accepted me as I was, instead of waiting for me to change.About as personal as a savior who gave his life for me, on the prospect that I would choose to become one of the "whosoever believes in him."Listen to this episode with your walls down, and your hearts open.
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The best part is that theyāre all free.
That hard part is that you couldnāt purchase these resources, even if you tried. This isnāt just a list of books or conferences you should attend to improve your marriage and rock your relationship with your wife.
No, itās more than that!
Photo credit: Andre FreitasThese are three resources that are available to everyone; but only a few take full advantage of them all.
Donāt let fate determine the outcome of your marriage. You have the power to make a difference with your wife, starting today.
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I love taking drives with my family.
The radio is playing, the munchkins are looking out the window, and the next thing I know I hear two small voices coming from the backseat singing worship songs: āOur God is awesome, he can move mountains, keep me in the valley, hide me from rainā¦ā
āOur God is Awesome!ā
Photo credit: Morgan SessionsThatās not something our family will learn on their own. As husbands and fathers, one of our primary responsibilities is to lead our family in faith.
But that doesnāt just happen on accident.
It requires being intentional.
It requires consistently modeling our faith.
In this episode, I share three ways to practice your faith with your family. Theyāre easy, fun, and will give you one more reason to spend time together.
But here is the kicker.After you listen, donāt just say, āThat was good!ā and leave it at that. Take action, immediately, and give your family the opportunity to grow in their faith.
Click here to listen.How do you practice your faith with your family?
P.s. Here are two of my familyās favorite worship songsā¦enjoy!
BJ Putnam ā Our Father
Charles Jenkins ā Our God Is Awesome
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I knowā¦we husbands donāt have any.
Or at least, we generally donāt talk about them, especially in public. So in honor of all the husbands who struggle with what Iām about to share, here we go!
āIām stressed out.āDuring this time of year, Iāve got all sorts of celebrations on my plate:
Valentines Day,My wifeās birthdayOur wedding anniversaryMotherās dayGetting gifts or planning celebrations has never been my forte.
In fact, itās been a pain point for me, because of my insecurities.
In this episode, weāll share a few birthday āfails,ā along with some significant celebration āwins.ā
It turns out, my insecurities come more from me than anything else, and I finally learn (and hopefully enlighten all the husbands out there) why all of these celebrations are so important to my wife.
Hereās what you can do.As a husband, take the lead in your relationship and share how you feel with your wife. It may take a few conversations, and possibly open up the door to clear things up that have been brewing beneath the surface.Know that your insecurities have as much to do with you as they do with your wife. For me, it was from false expectations I set for myself.Agree to creating lasting memories for celebrations, instead of big gifts where the novelty fades after time.What insecurities do you deal with as a husband?
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Have you ever stopped in your tracks?
I mean come across a picture, a new thought, a quote, that stopped you in your tracks?
āThe way we treat our children directly impacts what they believe about themselvesā ā Ariadne Brill
But it wasnāt the quote itself that caused me to pause. Rather, it was the questions that came out of it:
How do I treat my kids?
The one question every parent needs to askā¦
What am I telling them about themselves?There are so many questions that come to mind as a parent, but questions that address our influence on our children are the most important.
What do I want my children to believe about themselves?
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It canāt just be me.
I donāt know why, but I feel like Iāve been doing a terrible job of balancing work and familyā¦you know, the āwork/life balanceā thing.
Iām not putting my phone down when I come home for the day.Iām thinking about other projects while Iām at dinner with my family.Iām consistently staying late at work, even though thereās always one more thing to do.So here is what I didā¦I asked people I trusted; people who were further along in their journey than me, whose families were intact, and careers were going well.
The answer wasnāt anything I was expecting. I was hoping for a silver bullet, or an easy three step plan to implementā¦but thatās not what they gave me.
It sounds so simple, but you canāt do it on your own.Listen to this episode, and youāll figure it out (I promise).
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How do you handle this?
The past few months have been challenging to say the least:
The police shootings in St. Louis and New York have reignited heated discussions about race.The CIA released a report that detailed their torture of terror suspects, which caused me to pause and evaluate my faith.And just a few days ago, ISIS executed 21 Egyptian Christians.We have to talk about it.And as Christians, we need to be able to talk about it intelligently. The problem is that if our Christian leaders (pastors, ministers, etc.,) donāt address these issues, then media pundits will determine the narrative.
I believe the Bible has something to say about every one of those issues, and thatās what we discuss this episode.
My guest isā¦Iāve read Sean Palmerās blog for over a year now, and Iām thrilled to bring him on the show!
He shares how to address difficult cultural issues in a way that stays true to the Gospel without alienating either side.
Seriouslyā¦reading his blog will reveal your leanings (political or otherwise) and call you back to the Gospel.
- Se mer
