Category Archives: Daily Living

Practical wisdom drawn from the teachings of the Bible.

FEARLESS: WEEK #2

Have you ever stood in the ocean right where the waves break?

If so, you have been pushed around by a relentless force. Even if you withstand the first few waves breaking on you, at some point you will have to surrender to the power and repetition of the ocean. It doesn’t matter how intelligent you are, how determined you are, or even how strong you are. The ocean eventually wins.

There are two solutions to this situation, you can go back to shore or you can move out a little further from shore. Either way, you stop getting battered by the waves.

Anxiety can cause a similar situation inside of us. The waves of adrenaline, emotion, and worry crash against us. At this point many people run back to the shore, it makes sense to get away from this overwhelming barrage. Unfortunately, we become conditioned to run to the shore over and over again, or in many cases we avoid the ocean (situations that cause anxiety) altogether. Other people stand their ground and fight the waves of anxiety at the exact point where anxiety is strongest. These people appear to win for a while, but eventual they succumb physically or emotionally to the breaking waves of fear. Continue reading

FEARLESS: WEEK 1

From an early age and for over two decades I was crippled by severe panic attacks. Damaging my growth as a student, the depth of my relationships with others, and my pursuit of a career. Leading to years of depression and struggle.

By God’s grace and with some very practical steps taken, I was able to overcome the panic attacks and all that came with them. After doing research and gaining understanding on the biological, emotional, and physical realities I dealt with, I now see clearly the actions and mindset that can remove this type of fear from a life.

I instinctively took steps to cope and heal, I now understand the reasons behind the steps I took. I want to share these ideas with as many people as possible. Continue reading

WHAT KIND OF RELATIONSHIP DOES GOD WANT WITH YOU

Photo by Hugues de BUYER-MIMEURE on Unsplash


Not too long ago, I came across a powerful video that illustrated the kind of relationship that God wants to have with us.  In my own words I want share a slightly different version of video, and discuss briefly what God wants in a relationship with us.

Imagine if you will, the following scene.

Alex and Camille are celebrating their one year anniversary; they have chosen a restaurant, gotten all dressed up, and Camille is even having a good hair day.

They arrive at the restaurant and after a short wait, they are escorted to their table.  The waiter promptly makes his way to the table to receive their drink requests.  He steps away to retrieve the drinks, while Alex and Camille make small talk and reminiscing about their first year of marriage.  The two of them were caught up in a moment of laughter when the waiter returned with their drinks.

After some polite conversation, the waiter asks if he can take their order.  Alex defers to Camille and she places her order.  Alex then orders the prime rib, with a baked potato and broccoli.  “Excellent choice sir,” replies the waiter.  Also, if you could bring a Caesar salad with grilled chicken, a lobster tail with a side salad, and a grilled chicken breast with asparagus and a sweet potato.  “We can certainly do that,” said the waiter.  He asked if they were ready for refills and then left to place their order.

Camille had seen Alex eat a hole pizza once, but she was in shock with all the food he had just ordered.  “How are you going to eat all that food,” she asked in amazement.  “Oh, that’s not all for me,” Alex replied as he stood up.  “Good, here she is now.”

Alex waived across the room to get someone’s attention.  Camille was perplexed.  She had no idea what was going on.  She wondered who was here.

“Honey, I want to introduce to you to Kristie.  She was my high school sweetheart when I graduated.  We were sure that we were going to get married, but our plans took us in different directions, but she has always had a special place in my heart.

Camille could not believe what she was hearing.  “That’s all well and good, but why is she here tonight?”  “I just thought it would be nice if she was here to celebrate our special day with us.”

Alex stood up again and waived across the room.  “Great!  They both made it.”

“Who made it?”

“Sheila, and Becky.”

“Who are Sheila and Becky?”

“Here we go.  You all can sit right here.”

“Honey, this is Becky,” as he pointed to the lady that stood to his right.  “We lived in the house right across the street from me when I was growing up.  We dated a little in middle school, and we have remained friends all these years.”

“This is Sheila,” as he pointed to the lady on his left.   “We had an on again off again relationship all through middle school, high school, and through some of my college years.  Whenever things got too serious, one of us would break things off.  We eventually realized we were not meant to be lifelong partners, so we decided to just go it as friends.”

“I’m so glad all of you could make it tonight.  This is such a special evening for Camille and myself.”

As Alex turned back to Camille, it was obvious that she was not pleased with the situation.

Continue reading

IS FACEBOOK SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF YOU

Photo by William Iven on Unsplash


I hear more and more people bemoaning the negativity that seems to permeate social media these days.  I can’t speak of your newsfeed, but on mine, I see posts weekly from individuals that threaten to delete Facebook from their phones or from their life.  In fact, I have felt this way myself in the past, but all that changed this past Easter.

A Social Media Fast

For Easter, our church observes Lent, although not in the traditional sense.  We ask folks to abstain, for 40 days, from things in their life that have become a distraction to their spiritual journey.  For me, this was obviously social media.  In particularly Facebook. Continue reading

LEARNING TO SAY GOODBYE | DON’T LEAVE ANYTHING UNSAID

Photo by gn dim on Unsplash


Regret

Several years ago, I lost my father-in-law to pancreatic cancer.  That was the first person I had lost in my life that I genuinely loved.  I had lost people that were acquaintances, but I had never lost someone that had invested in me and cared for the outcome of my life.  In fact, until Eddie, I had never had another man love me the way that he loved me.  It was the first great loss of my young life.

I was about 28 years old when Eddie passed away.  I was a young man that did not know how to have a healthy relationship with another man.  I never had a healthy relationship with my father, or any other man in my life.  I had buddies to run around with, I had a best friend that I would have died for, but I never had an emotionally stable, mature man, gift me his unconditional love. Continue reading