Apprentice 2 Jesus

Spiritual Formation

  • Save Us From Bumper Sticker Theology

    We have so much information thrown at us every day we don’t know how to sift out what is meaningful and what is meaningless. As a result, we are reduced to trying to get our “message” out in short, pithy ways that capture some sort of attention, but ultimately fails to communicate what we really… Read more

  • Back to the Man Who Started It All

    The whole concept of “Apprentice2Jesus” arose out of reading Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy. Actually, it took two readings of the book, plus preaching on it, before I began to get what he was saying. (I’m an incredibly slow learner.) But as I began to get my head around what he was saying, I knew… Read more

  • Choosing the Good Part

    The stories of Luke 10 give me pictures of ministry priorities. In the sending of the 72, it is remembering the call of God. Jesus asks the 72 to go and do what they had watched him do. Teach what he had taught them. Know your call. The parable of the good Samaritan is a… Read more

  • The Lesson of the Controlled Burn

    Last week when I arrived at the retreat center for my silent prayer retreat the staff let me know they would be doing a controlled burn in the meadow near my cabin. It saved me from panicking when I saw the smoke a few hours later. Being a guy, I had to walk over to… Read more

  • Embracing the Silence

    As I am away on a silent retreat, I wanted to leave some thoughts on silence and solitude. These are from Thomas Merton. “In order to find God in ourselves, we must stop looking at ourselves, stop checking and verifying ourselves in the mirror of our own futility, and be content to be in Him… Read more

  • Setting the Pilgrim’s Heart

    I will be away at a silent retreat this weekend. It is time to come away and listen. My Bible and journal will be the only items to join me. No study materials. It is time to HEAR. My heart is longing for refreshing, as is my body. The silence is wonderful. These are times… Read more

  • Observing the Pattern of Prayer… and Action

    I am reading/praying my way through Luke right now. One thing I truly love about Luke’s take on the life of Jesus is in the intricate tie between prayer and activity. In Luke 5 there is the constant rush of ministry activity. Healing, teaching, deliverance ministry, but Luke adds in, “Jesus often withdrew to the… Read more

  • Life is a Prayer

    There are “prayer times,” and then there is the joy of walking in prayer as life happens. I am struck by Jesus’ amazing ability to have times of tremendous ministry that had to expend a lot of energy, and he did so with ease. Luke’s gospel gives us a peek into the prayer life of… Read more

  • Change the World in Ten Easy Steps

    Bad title again. I have to do SOMETHING to get people to click on the post! 😉 The call of 1 Peter, and the call of Scripture to the believer is this: “Be holy for God is holy.” Holiness is not a dress code. It’s life-change. It is coming more fully into the image and… Read more

  • How to Be Holy in Ten Easy Steps

    The text I will preaching this Sunday (and yes, it is without regard to the Hallmark Holiday and I apologize) is 1 Peter 1:13-25. Staring us in the face is that horrific verse: “BE HOLY FOR GOD IS HOLY.” Holiness in my life growing up was all about how we dressed. Quite honestly, I would… Read more