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How you manage your emotions has more impact on your marriage, raising kids, and doing well at work than just about anything else. Daniel Goleman, in his book, Emotional Intelligence , demonstrates how a person’s ability to manage his or her emotions has more influence on their success in life than IQ.But managing emotions is not easy. As Goleman said, “The emotional brain responds to an event more quickly than the thinking brain.” Our emotional reactions to things tend to ge

Someone asked me, “What gets you up in the morning? What gets you out of bed?"The Resurrection of Jesus.If it really happened, it’s the biggest news in world history. It answers all the questions of humanity. It also solves all the problems of mankind. If Jesus really rose again from the dead, there are huge ramifications that transcend a church doctrinal statement. It matters for everyone, inside and outside the church.Jesus’ resurrection proved that there is life after deat

The northwest suburbs are very safe. Our crime rate here is low, and things like murder, rape, home invasions, etc., are rare. But when we moved here from a small town in Wisconsin, we felt like we were moving into gangland. Only because it was “Chicago” and people outside the area associate Chicagoland with lots of crime.Our first night in our house here, August 1, 2007, was one I’ll never forget. Of course, all the doors were locked. Some of our things were still scattered

There is no feeling worse than feeling out of control.I was twenty years old, living in Texas, and on my way home from work. I had gotten up before dawn that day to fix my car, so that it could get me to work, so I was unusually tired. I kept nodding off but was sure I could keep myself awake. Bad decision. When my right front tire left the pavement, it jolted me awake. I saw the speedometer at 55, looked up, and saw a power line pole directly in front of me. I hit the brakes

Linda and I are planning to climb our first 14,000 foot peak this summer. When we decided to go for it, it seemed like quite a feat…at least for a couple of novice climbers like us. But when I compare that to the 29,020 foot Mount Everest, it’s nothing.Climbing Mount Everest has a fascinating history (I will never be a part of it!). Until the mid 90s, 1/4 of all people who attempted to make the summit died in the process. Last year was one of the deadliest years for those mak

Who or what you worship determines who or what you are. In his book, The Source, James Michener tells the story of a man named Urbaal, who was a farmer living about 2200 B.C. He worshiped two gods, one a god of death, the other a goddess of fertility. One day, the temple priests told Urbaal to bring his young son to the temple for sacrifice––if he wanted good crops. Urbaal obeyed, and on the appointed day drags his wife and boy to the scene of the boy's "religious execution"

Who are you rooting for in the upcoming presidential election? Well, don’t tell me, at least, not in this forum. And I’m not going to tell you here, either. But I can tell you this…I’ve eliminated a number of names from my list just because of their lack of civility. I know, politics is nasty and all of them, or at least their campaigns, eventually feel the need to go negative. But I long for true statesmen. Men and women of integrity who debate the issues, point out policy a

Philosopher Walter Kaufmann wrote a book ironically titled, The Faith of a Heretic. After explaining our cosmic insignificance, he concluded: “What I want to do and would advise others to do is to make the most of life: put into it all you have got, and live, and, if possible, die with some measure of nobility.”I cannot help but to say that to tell us to die with nobility when there is no hope beyond the grave is farcical at best.Compare Kaufmann’s philosophy to Jesus’ words

When you read the title, you might respond, “You don’t.” After all, we can’t force our faith on others.I have learned, however, that those we think are not interested are often the most responsive to the Gospel, if approached correctly.Understand why many are not interested, or appear not to be. Some have been witnessed to before by people they want nothing to do with or be like. Many have seen hypocrisy among professing Christians and it has turned them off. Others just assu

I get it. I’m one of you. I need my time alone. I have to work at being social…and I’m better at being friends with a couple of people rather than lots. I enjoy studying for sermons, and the growth in people as the result, but I don’t particularly enjoy delivering them.So I’m one of you. But I have a caution.I’ve read all the blogs and the articles that introverts post insisting that everyone understand them. I’ve resonated with many of those lists. But I can’t help but think

"The very moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.” – C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity The first time I r

A friend of mine was looking at commercial real estate property he was interested in buying. The seller walked him through the building, which was in pretty bad shape, pointing out many of the needed areas of repairs, promising to fix them, and even offering to include renovation in the sale.Finally my friend said, “Never mind renovation or repairs. I’m not interested in this building. I’m interested in the site. This building is coming down. I’m planning to build something a