As we go about our work day, we might learn from an uneducated worker named Brother Lawrence. When Brother Lawrence joined a monastery in Paris in the 1600’s, he wasn’t educated enough to become an official clergyman, so he went about serving in the monastery. For the rest of his life, he worked in the kitchen and repaired sandals. But it washow he went about his work that was remarkable.

Brother…

I start my work day the same way every day–I pray. And not just any prayer. I pray the same thing every day.

It hasn’t always been like this. Before I would switch on my computer, look at my calendar, check my emails, and do whatever came next. But now I pray to start my day. And I’m so glad I do.

Before I share the prayer, let me mention the difference it’s made for me.…

As the VP of Marketing and Company Chaplain for EnergyCAP, Inc., I have an exciting announcement—today we launched a new blog at www.PrayerAtWork.com with weekly emails to encourage you to connect with God at your workplace.

Nowadays, we’re more connected than ever. We don’t have to be in the same office with coworkers or be…

Yesterday at the grocery store, the woman in front of me was taking a very long time to check out. I looked for a shorter line, but you know how it goes—the longer you’re in one line, the more committed you feel to riding it out. So I did.

Then I got nosy. Why was she taking such a long time? I leaned in while trying to act undercover, and then I realized what the holdup was. Miss Slowpoke was choosing which items to take off her bill. She had gone over her budget.

So…

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34.18)

Once there was a man, and he had a broken heart. He heard God was coming to dinner. So he gathered the shards of his scattered heart and taped them together. He hoped the adhesive would hold.

After all, when God comes to dinner, you have to put yourself together (at least he thought).

The man made it through the greeting and the first course. He made it halfway through the…

The following is from my upcoming book, One-Minute Devotions on Prayer:

“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they’ll be heard because of their many words.” (Matthew 6:7)

When teaching about prayer, Jesus instructs us to keep prayer simple. But how easy it is to complicate! We worry about placing the “right” words in the “right” places, saying holy statements that sound good, not praying for too long or too short—oh my, what’s the right…

I recently participated in the National Prayer Assembly hosted by America’s National Prayer Committee and was asked to lead prayer for emerging leaders. I think of an emerging leader as one whom God is lining up to lead. It’s not a distinction of chronological age, but rather the work of God–children and youth can be emerging leaders as well as older people. It depends on whom God is in the midst of preparing to release…

“The will of the one who sent us is that we be the one who was sent. What we do is meant to be lived out of the context of discovering and becoming the person we are.” (Robert Benson, Between the Dreaming and the Coming True)

Mount Nittany is the highest place in our city. When I look across the valley from up there, I see homes, businesses, and schools; I see bars, streets, and stadiums; and I see cars on the highway and planes in the sky. And I wonder about…

I’ve done some stupid things while visiting my in-laws.

The first time I met Jean and Jeannine, I broke their door, their vacuum cleaner, and dropped their camera in the snow. That night I asked Jean for Colette’s hand in marriage. He answered, “I think you should wait longer.” (By longer, I think he meant forever). Sorry Jean.

At my in-laws house, I’ve caused false 911 calls, fallen off motorcycles, and gotten sick on bike rides, but this one tops them all.

At a recent…

I’ve been around churches, ministries, and Christian conferences for most of my life, and I’ve had many awesome leaders in that time. One quality was pretty consistent among my leaders—dedication to prayer. They wanted to pray and they wanted us to pray. For that, I’m grateful.

However, there’s one fundamental mistake many of them made about prayer—they challenged us to pray without training us how to pray. And during certain seasons, they called us to pray even more,…