Things I Learned in 2015

2015 was a pretty rough year.  If you want more details, I get right into the thick of it in my blog called “The Year God Stopped Talking to Me”.  The last year I had that was as rough as this was 2009, the year my marriage absolutely fell apart.  But what I’ve learned is the hardest years are the years you learn the most.  About yourself, about other people, about the world.  I wrote another blog on New Year’s Day of 2010 called “Things I learned in 2009”.  The things I learned that year were very different, although no less significant, than the things I learned this past year. These are the…

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A Billion Dollar Lesson In Disobedience

“When I talk to you….listen.” – God So we all have lessons to learn in life, but we don’t always learn our lessons the first time, or the second time, or the easy way.   I was recently reminded of an important lesson – again – and I’m pretty sure I won’t be forgetting it this time. Most people have those, “if only I had thought of that…” moments in life, after the fact.  Let me tell you about mine. Rachel, (it’s her blog…she’s my wife….on with my story) started traveling for work quite a few years ago, and would end up in questionable parts of town in different cities around North America.  It…

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The Year God Stopped Talking to Me

New year’s day 2016 I sat on my living room couch, face red-stained and eyes puffy from hours of crying, my voice half-strained from screaming – at God – in particularly colorful language at times. Why? Because it was New Year’s Day and as I sat down to reflect on the previous year and craft my plans and goals for the next, I realized 2015…..Well…..sucked. Sure there were good things in 2015.  In fact, on the outside it looked like a GREAT year: We bought our first house. Barry left his job where he was miserable and went into business with his Dad. We took my my mom on an incredible trip to…

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Discernment & Hearing Tim’s Voice

My friend Tim died suddenly. He was 35. I was with him two weeks prior, joking around, pushing, poking. Then his heart stopped beating and he was gone. I will never see him again on this earth. After his death, I was struggling with the decision of whether or not to attend his funeral or a Christian leadership conference that was coming up the same weekend.  We were going to be taking a friend with us to the conference who tried to commit suicide two weeks before.  As I contemplated the decision, weighing in my mind were things like being judged by other people for not going, and disappointing others if I decided…

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