Thursday Thoughts

  • The value of a mentor

    The value of a mentor

    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…

  • Learning to let things go

    Learning to let things go

    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’d rather burn out than rust out

    I’d rather burn out than rust out

    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…

  • Why change is so difficult

    Why change is so difficult

    For the last few blogs I have written about transformation, The more assessment debriefs I do, the more I believe Psalm 139 correctly describes us as “fearfully and wonderfully made.”  We are so complex that one assessment instrument barely scratches the surface of explaining who God created us to be.  The instruments we use (TrueWiring®)…

  • Transformation requires what we don’t have

    Transformation requires what we don’t have

    In my previous blog, I discussed how many helping professionals give their lives to serving people for change, only to see few individuals transformed. Too often, change is temporary and superficial.  I want to continue with this theme.  Why do most of us want to change something in our lives but seem unable to actually…

  • Meeting the needs of others

    Meeting the needs of others

    Mary Kay and I have some dear friends who have spent the last 25 years investing in people.  I know of few people who have given more time, energy and financial resources to helping people (most often Christians) overcome obstacles, traumas and misfortune in their lives.  We met several weeks ago, and they discouragingly asked…

  • History repeating itself

    History repeating itself

    The recent attempted assassination of the Presidential candidate Donald Trump stirred up a variety of emotions and memories in me. My mind went back to memories and emotions from 60 years ago.  I was 9 to 16 years old from 1963 to 1970.  During these seven years, first JFK, then Malcolm X, next was MLK,…

  • Binary Thinking

    Binary Thinking

    On our vacation last month, my daughter-in-law asked me what good books I was reading. I sheepishly said I haven’t been reading much lately (as I wrote about this last week—Too Busy to Think).  I realized, again, my deep thinking is born out of my reading which challenges me to think differently.  The reading surely…

  • Too busy to think

    Too busy to think

    We became official citizens of South Carolina now that we have our voter registration, driver’s license and license plates! Much of my life these past three months has been focused on taking care of the important and urgent details right in front of me. However, in the last few days, I have noticed my thinking…

Got any book recommendations?