The tension is real. One one hand, God has created each of us uniquely and expects His creativity to shine through. On the other hand, He expects us to grow, mature, and stretch our selves. I have so many thoughts running through my head about the tensions of life and God's Kingdom on earth. for example, serving and leading, truth and grace, rules and relationship, waiting and pressing in, being and doing, Speaking up, or being quiet. God uses so many physical attributes to represent spiritual truths. I am curious, What is in your life that shows God's hand at work? What tensions are you experiencing?

hello friends, Today’s thought comes from John Eldridge’s Friday web blast. He offers the thought of ‘I don’t care… I’m gonna do it anyway.’ How many times have you said that thing that would’ve been better left unsaid, or bought that thing even though it blew out your budget, or ate that thing that you knew was not a good choice? As I battle the effects of some of my old habits, I find myself being cautious of all of those thoughts. I have a constant glucose monitor that reminds me about two hours after I’ve eaten that extra dessert or can filled meal. I used to say ‘the Field men always think about what we say, but most of the time it is after we’ve said it.’ I realize the ‘I don’t care’ ideas come from me immaturity and lack of respect for others. There are times I realize how rampant the attitude is is within our community and society when someone points out something to me, or says that thing that makes them feel better, by apparently lifting them up by putting me down. What are your experiences with the ‘I don’t care’ attitude? How does it (or its absence) show up in your ministry or conversations? https://wildatheart.org/media/johns-weekly-video-update/video-update-i-dont-care?message_id=21673&message_donor_id=b3983a3b-7454-4eee-8f77-9e502bc02097

I've been pretty quiet here. It feels like I'm staring at a new gate, despite being assured that this is a valuable resource. Well. I need prayer for wisdom and maybe a little hand holding or uplifting or perhaps I'll just take what I can get. And I think I'll dispense with the specifics and ask this question. Have you ever been sure in your soul that being the voice of wisdom was the wrong thing to be? When you witness something so personal and devastating happen in the family that you know the right thing and you know the best thing and that's all anyone can see but you can see a "way through" that provides for a best case scenario that includes he wrong outcome and the wise thing is to pray through it with hope for what should happen but all the things that you can see scream "prepare for the worst because it is part of the path to the best? Is this too convoluted to get the gist? I can throw in some gruesome details- but I think the question is present, Do you pastor the wisdom you give or do you just advise to the best someone will receive it.

On one our roadtrips, we stopped and visited some pastor friends. As we both are pouring out our souls and lifting each other up, he made the comment, "As you lead down (to the people on your team or in your department), you also lead up (to the management teams and organizational leaders)." One of my roles is working with an organization of traditional structure. It is very much top down. Ironically, I lead a team of dynamic and empowered leaders. The team is encouraged to lead from their skillsets, to press the paradigms of interpersonal relationships, and to care for the well-being of others. I often find myself bumping against invisible barriers while trying to encourage others to go beyond. I am curious, how do you empower others and stretch the paradigms of those who operate in hierarchy?

I am part of many groups, all are my favorites. Today's thought comes from a group of Christian men, we are coaches in different aspects. We call ourselves, "The Bench" - we are part of Christiaan Coaches Network International (CCNI) (https://christiancoaches.com/) Our topic of discussion was the semiannual conversation of what resources are currently influencing us? I will probably share some thoughts from this discussion over the next few weeks. (that's a veiled accountability statement trying to say I want to be better at post discussion content here.) one of the guys shared his new interest in Ben Sasse, a man who knows he's dying and wants to share some of his insights with others... here's a link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CFo6-6BN9k. I encourage you to look it up. My hope for this page is to give a snippet of information that might spark a conversation. I've give the snippet, and now, I'd like to hear your thoughts... mine are included in the comments.