Apprentice 2 Jesus

Spiritual Formation

  • Getting past the “high” and moving into the routine of his presence

    I am Pentecostal. We live for the experience. When I see things advertised on Facebook for some Pentecostal service, youth service, etc., the hype words are always there. EPIC! UBER EPIC! CUTTING EDGE! DON’T MISS THIS ONE! (or the next one… or the next one…) I am soaking in Richard Foster’s little book, Sanctuary of… Read more

  • It’s just not that hard

    I returned from a funeral celebrating the life of a great lady. Her husband is a tremendous influence in my life. They pastored several churches in Minnesota, and I have the privilege of pastoring a church they served many years ago. The celebration of life was amazing as we heard from grandchildren about the faithfulness… Read more

  • The call really is to live differently

    I am working my way through Leviticus… intentionally… Leviticus 18-20 and 1 Peter 1 offer similar exhortations: Where you are headed and how you succeed depends on the relationship you have with God. Live differently. You do NOT have to live like the people in that land. What 1 Peter reminds us in a very sober way… Read more

  • Parenting and discsipleship

    The internet has been around the entirety of raising three boys in our family, but I can’t imagine raising young kids in today’s environment. It’s entirely possible, of course! But the challenges! It is incredibly difficult to “train up a child” as a family, and then add in all the other sources of input flying… Read more

  • Goals are dreams with deadlines — um, no

      It’s a very Western saying. We tend to not like dreamers. Dreamers don’t get anything done. They sit around and, well, dream. We can’t wait that long! We need a PLAN! Dreams in the Bible were different. For Abraham, he had a dream. If he had put a deadline on it, he would have… Read more

  • Training our hands for war

    Praise be to the Lord my Rock,     who trains my hands for war,     my fingers for battle. (Ps. 144:1) We don’t like talk of “war,” but war is what we get when we come into true Kingdom allegiance. When we make the declaration in our lives that Jesus IS Lord, that means all other things are NOT… Read more

  • In this world we are like Jesus

    This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. (I Jn. 4:17) I know I could sure do a better job of THAT! We need to rise to this challenge as the body of Christ. Now, more than ever. There… Read more

  • The journey to hear his voice

    Every once in awhile I blog on making a case for humming more. Or whistling. There’s not enough of it in our world anymore. My grandpa was a carpenter. I would watch him work and while he worked, especially when he was cutting a board, or measuring for the cut, he would whistle. As I… Read more

  • What is the harvest of my life?

    The fruit of the Spirit is what we are harvesting in our lives. What am I harvesting in my own life? If I love Jesus, why do I still battle the very familiar evidence of life in the flesh (sinful nature) at times? It is a matter of what we are feeding. What I think we battle sometimes is… Read more

  • The Soul and Pain

    “Because the soul is the deepest expression of the person, the soul is the place of greatest pain. We do not speak of the dark night of the mind, or the will, or even the spirit. Only the soul. The dark night of the soul.” — John Ortberg, Soul Keeping.  Just as I thought I was… Read more