Stay Poised

Are you concerned with spiritual atrophy?  Just as we can experience physical atrophy when we don’t exercise our muscles, we can feel the effects when our spiritual muscles are never exercised.  We can neglect to: stretch our faith, build up our mind, or increase in wisdom.

C.S. Lewis once wrote in his book Screwtape Letters, “Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

Solomon would say, “Our axe has become dull.”

This reminds me of Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide over the last 35 years.  His seventh habit is “sharpen the saw”—preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have: you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual.

Are you sharpening your saw to stay poised?

Click here for more from Pastor Tommy Nelson on Ecclesiastes 10

Who Are You, Really?

In May, our older son, Cody, secured a summer internship with a construction company in Houston—Jamail & Smith—which will help him in his current degree field at Texas A&M.  He’s in the University Studies Program in the College of Architecture that allows you to tailor a degree to your interests, so he’ll focus on construction project management; and the program will take the coursework he has already completed toward Hotel & Hospitality Management.

When Cody mentioned he would live at home for the summer, he asked if we could complete a Bible Study together. Since our younger son, Tanner, is entering his senior year of high school, I thought the three of us should focus on a Bible Study about identity.  Cody is always asked, “What do you plan to do after college?”  Tanner is consistently asked, “What will be your college major?”  It’s easy for our identity to get wrapped up in those things.

We found a study by the Kendrick Brothers called Defined: Who God Says You Are, which focuses on understanding and embracing one’s identity from a Christian perspective. The authors, Stephen and Alex Kendrick, explore how knowing one’s identity in Christ can profoundly impact various aspects of life. In fact, the book formed the basis of their movie Overcomer.

The three of us worked through this 8-week study this summer, which was enriching for all of us.

Click here for a summary of the Defined study and what I learned from it