The Target for a Life-Changing FTF Routine.

Begin with the end in mind. Steven Covey is credited with that maxim. It’s the 2nd of his well-known 7 habits. If you start by thinking about the outcome you desire, you can avoid distractions. You can bypass all the options that look so good, so responsible, but don’t really contribute toward your desired outcome. A […]

The FTF Routine that gives me life.

Want a garden full of fresh, beautiful produce? Cultivate the soil and plant seeds. Want an investment portfolio that provides for your retirement? Thoughtfully invest some money every single month. Want a great relationship with your kids? Spend time in conversation every day. The common factor? Regular on-purpose investment. Put in a little effort every […]

Are you hiding your shame with contempt?

Today’s post is a special contribution from a guest, Sharon Mavis. She and her husband Rick are fascinated by the connection between spiritual and emotional maturity, so her writing is right up the alley of what we talk about here.  You can find more about Sharon below the post. “I need to hide. There is something […]

5 Emotional Lessons I Learned From a Relational Train Wreck

If you’re paying attention, you might have wondered where I wandered off to. No blog posts in nearly a month. No shared resources on my Author page. Even the Question of the Day and Evening Quote disappeared for a few days. A friend asked me if I’d resigned from Facebook. What’s been going on? Well, […]

Have you decided to learn from Jesus?

I’ve been a guitar player for 21 years. In that time I’ve hung around more musicians than I can remember. One particular type of guitarist was surprisingly common. They had a guitar, maybe two. They noodled around from time to time. They knew a handful of chords. Every now and then they’d get a group […]

How Can You Change Your Attitude?

Your attitude shapes the course of your life more than almost anything. That means that attitude is an incredibly important part of personal and spiritual growth. (We talked about that in the last episode.) So what happens if you find that a negative attitude is getting in the way of your growth?   Do attitudes […]

The role of attitude in spiritual growth

On Monday, I tried something new.  Using the cool new Google Hang-Out technology, I recorded a conversation with 3 friends.  My thought was this:  Wouldn’t it be cool to sit in on a conversation about intentional spiritual growth with some interesting people who have something relevant to say?  So, this is the first one.  There […]

4 Lessons about intentional growth from an unexpected vacation.

Learning a few things on Vacation School budget cuts led to an unexpected vacation for my family and I.  Since I’ve started paying attention to my journey in an intentional way, it wasn’t just fun.  I also learned a few things about growing. In Oregon we have this great strategy for dealing with budget shortfalls. […]

Keeping feelings and faith separate can kill you!

Is Christianity killing you? It nearly killed me. Faith is supposed to give life, abundant life. That’s what Jesus said. Instead this amazing community of faith that has so deeply shaped me, has often given just the opposite. It’s happening because one of the implicit teachings of the modern church is this: Don’t Feel. There’s […]