My first job in high school was making t-shirts at the Heart of Illinois fair. At the time, I didn't understand why the owner paid me cash (I do now!) but I didn't complain. I worked next to two brothers in a giant lemonade stand who whistled at the girls. The unfortunate part about getting paid in cash was that I was working at fair ground … you could find deep fried anything within a five minute walk. My understanding of money at the time was that you made money and then spent money. To be honest, I was better at spending than earning. Financial planners will emphasize five aspects of money management. I was learning about the first two: Earning Spending Saving Investing Giving It’s not only teenagers who struggle with this. Many adults never move past the first two stages. A 2016 GOBankingRates.com survey found that 69% of…

Back in the 1990's, I read every book about church growth that I could get my hands on. As a young pastor, I wanted every church I served to grow and reach more people. I still do, albeit as an "older" pastor now. As we prepared to move from San Diego to Denver in 2009, I gave most of those books away. Some were dated, having been written in the late 1980's and describing a culture that no longer existed -- or at least was in decline. Some had hung their hat on a particular methodology that only fit a shrinking market. Others had questionable roots in scripture; a few had no roots in scripture. The books hadn't changed -- the culture was changing. But even more importantly, I was changing. I had more life experience than when I came out of college. By 1997, I had buried both of my parents.…

Max Lucado tells of having to undergo a heart procedure to fix an irregular heartbeat. He needed to have a catheter ablation.  The cardiologist would insert two cables into heart via a blood vessel. One would be a camera; the other would contain an ablation tool. Not familiar with an ablation tool? To ablate is to burn. It's to cauterize, singe, or brand! If all went well, it would destroy the “misbehaving” parts of his heart. As Lucado was being wheeled into surgery, doctor asked if Lucado had any final questions (not the best choice of words). “While you’re burning the misbehaving cells of my heart, any chance you could take your blowtorch to some of my greed, selfishness, and guilt?” The doctor smiled and said, “Sorry, that’s out of my pay grade.” But it’s not above God’s pay grade. The storyline of the Bible is that God is in the heart transformation…

As I've reflected back on my church upbringing, I realized I grew up singing a lot of hymns about heaven. There's a land that is fairer than day ... Oh they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise ... When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be! How beautiful heaven must be, sweet home of the happy and free ... When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there ... As a child, I didn't really understand what was meant by the "sweet by and by", but anything that involved sweets couldn't be all that bad. Over the years, I've grown even fonder of the hymns that speak about the future and what God has done to secure it. The reason is simple: I'm only getting older and the number of family and friends awaiting on the other side is growing.…