As a culture, we go to great lengths to deny death. My mom died at 68 of cancer. I had the privilege of spending precious time with her during her final years.  She lived a good life and died a great death. Her journey to her earthly death prompted me to prepare for my own…

Shortly after 11:00 pm one evening last week, my sister called me to let us know that my dad had physically died. Hospice had relocated him back to his Assisted Living Facility from the hospital that afternoon because he wanted to go home. Once he was there for a few hours, he went to his…

Over the last six months my life gradually became more and more disorganized. This is primarily due to my work routines or habits being eliminated in our recent move and my changing home office environment.  Over the last number of years, I have been able to keep my inbox to less than 20 emails.  However,…

Why is it painful to get in shape physically?  During our recent transition, I did little to stay in shape except walk a lot. There really aren’t major challenges to my getting back in shape, other than I don’t enjoy it. It isn’t like I hate it, I just don’t like it, especially since I…

Recently, we returned from a trip, and I gained a lot of weight.  As I have written in the past, I can gain 5 pounds in a week and it will take me a month to lose it! This has happened most of my adult life. However, I find that fact intriguing, I suspect the…

Last week, I wrote on the value of a mentor and a reader thoughtfully asked me some probing questions about the practices of a mentor. As I processed her questions, I realized that I hadn’t talked much about the logistics of a mentoring relationship.  I am sure there are many good books on mentoring, I…

I had lunch with my mentor recently.  He is 10 years older and much wiser than I. Every time I am with him, I am inspired to be a better version of myself.  Over my lifetime, I have learned a lot about how to benefit from a mentor.  As I have written before, I have…

Because technology keeps me functioning well, I didn’t anticipate the challenge of setting up my new home office. I found it very difficult to keep my normal rhythms without my usual connectivity.  At one point my internet service provider literally cut the cable to my new house. It took me talking to five different agents…

I recently assessed a staff pastor from one of the larger churches in our nation.  He was being considered for another position and was very careful not to criticize the church he was leaving.  But he clearly had been working in a stressful environment with a high production mindset. He didn’t know that over the…