I don't ever want to negate the hard work that goes into studying, planning, and executing ministry while performing some of the mundane tasks of pastoring, while also working a full-time job and helping to raise a family. All this may be true, but these aren't the reasons ministry is hard.

“Many of us guise dissatisfaction with misguided ambition, thinking that we will find peace and joy in a bigger house, finer car, higher paying job, or broader platform. None of those things will bring us the one thing that will shake that feeling: contentment.”

“We live in a culture that values things, talents, and gifts, while simultaneously neglecting people.”

“God doesn't intend for our differences to divide us. Even in mathematics differences and division are two separate operations.”

You have been given a gift; a function to serve in this world. God gave it to you, for reasons that are all His own. It is very easy to look at what's been given to you generically, assuming it is the same thing others have been given.

There were many moments throughout my childhood when I was reminded that I was bigger than other boys. That fact made me awkward around other people (thinking) I couldn't be cool, or ultimately accepted by my peers because I was a "husky kid".

No one knows how much you've grown, like you. You know exactly where you have come from, how you used to be, and how you have matured. You've changed.

“With this longing for relationship and the fulfillment that comes from them, there is also the reality that every relationship comes to an end.”

“New year's day always brings about a grand sense of renewed hope and optimism but is rarely met with consistent discipline.”

There is this notion that "respect must be earned." I've heard this all of my life and have pretty much always fallen in line with that thinking. However, the older I get the more I realize that this is NOT the way things should be.