Rick Nier...Woo!

As parents, we've all been there. We tell our child to do something and they ask why. Everyone knows what words are about to come out of the parent's mouth.  Because I said so .  We can debate forever if that reasoning should be sufficient or not. The fact is we say it. I say it, and then I preach to my kids about respect and obedience and when I was a perfect child.  So why do the kids ask for a reason? Why do the teenagers bore us with their litany of reasons of how we're old, our ideas are outdated, we're short and not that good at basketball? Yeah, my teenagers have found some specific talking points in their arguments to try and get me to let them have their way.  Why do they think they're so smart? Actually, I'm trying to get my children to write a book. (Cue sarcastic music so you know I'm about to spew a heavy dose.) If they would give me time to grab a pen and some paper, I could jot down some of their pearls of wisdom. They mak...

I’m not a big fan of birds. It’s not that I dislike them. I just don’t get thrilled at bird-watching. Unless you’re showing me a video of some giant bird on a National Geographic show that is about to do something in keeping with their place in the food chain. I’ll watch that. Or Big Bird, from Sesame Street. He was always pretty cool.  But bird-watching? I’m not about naming or classifying, or really even caring about birds. A few summers ago my wife bought a bird feeder and placed it near our big picture window. Apparently she wanted to help feed the neighborhood chipmunks and squirrels. She also likes to see the different kinds of birds that would come along.  I should mention something else. My wife keeps the big window clean, so several times a month we’ll hear a bird run into the window. It’s like a Windex commercial. Sometimes they shake their heads and fly away. A few times we’ve seen birds fly in so fast that I get to remind my kids of that Bible verse where ...

Jonathan McKee writes about teens, he writes for teens and he does a fantastic job writing to teens. There are countless resources out there for youth ministry and for teens in general.  And if ever there was a bracket challenge to decide who has written the greatest resources for teens, McKee would be the Duke of teen resources. Unless Duke surprisingly got beat. Then he'd be one of the other top teams you'd expect to see in a Final Four.  Wow, that illustration got away from me quick, but here's the point. Jonathan has done his research and he knows how to write and speak so teens, youth leaders, and parents of teens will listen. And you should be listening, because he brings his best every single time. His latest book, The Guy's Guide to Four Battle Every young Man Must Face: A Manual to Overcoming Life's Common Distractions, is another winner.  This one is written directly at teen guys about, you guessed it, four battles every young man (and old ...

In Luke 7, we read about Jesus having dinner with a Pharisee. There's a lesson to be had there, because I rarely eat with those whom I disagree, but that may be part of the problem we see in our politically divided country today. But I digress.  On this occasion, dinner was interrupted by a woman, known to be sinful, coming in and anointing Jesus  with perfume and then crying all over His feet. What's telling is what Luke wants us to remember about this story, because he focuses on the subsequent conversation between the Pharisee and Jesus and not the awkwardness of a woman interrupting dinner to wash the feet of a dinner guest with her tears and her hair. But the bigger problem is that I imagine most of us read this story and say something like, I need to love God more. While this is true, what we really need is to understand how depraved we really are. I'm convinced if we understood the depth of our depravity, we would be moved to chase after God more than we ar...

I've said that I'm ok with being unknown, or insignificant, in the eyes of the world around me. The truth is probably closer to me dealing with the fact that I am relatively unknown and then using that reality to spiritualize it. Ah, what a twisted web we weave, rarely comprehending that the one we deceive is ourselves.  Nevertheless, reading the stories of the Bible and attempting to learn from the mistakes of others is helpful. Recently I was reading from Luke 19. Luke says the people referred to Zack as a notorious sinner. 1 Notorious. Zack wasn’t just your run-of-the-mill sinner. He was famous for sinning. Yeah, you and I might sin, but Zack sinned with flair. It was almost like an anti-spiritual gift, he was so famous for it. The people grumbled that Jesus would choose to go and dine with Zack. After all, who we choose to spend our time with says something about us, right? My mom used to tell me that I was most like the people I like the most. I’m not t...

Everybody, I think I’ve made a discovery. I think I’ve discovered the greatest thing before  sliced bread. Everyone always talks about this invention or that creation being the greatest thing since  sliced bread.  To be honest, I’m not sure how sliced bread became the standard by how we’re amazed. What should be more amazing is that it took humanity so long to figure it out. It was 1928 when Otto Rohwedder invented the first single loaf bread-slicing machine. 1 But it’s not like he cured cancer. He sliced bread.  I digress. You’re here for the discovery of the greatest thing before sliced bread. I actually found it in the Bible, in the book of 1 Kings to be precise. The splendor of the King Solomon is being described in great detail. It includes the building of the Temple of the Lord. It details the building of his own palace, plus several other buildings he designed.  We’re told of the riches that are brought into Israel every month and every ...

Very few of us, when asked, would confess to believing we are the most important person in the world. The person, who above all others, deserves the time and attention of everyone else. Literally everyone else. Rare also would be the person who would say they are even the most important person in their chosen field of focus. There can, mathematically, only be one #1 doctor, teacher, firefighter, etc. But let’s narrow the field down a bit more. Would you say you are the most important person where you work? I don’t mean that the company couldn’t do what they do without you. I’ll grant you that every part of every machine serves a purpose, but you should admit there are other people who could do your job. Every person in every company has a role to play, but to believe you cannot be replaced means you may want to re-read the first few paragraphs. Also, I would suggest that if we think every part is equally important, understand the appendix has been removed from thousands of peop...