Sometimes I get discouraged.  I make plans but they don’t turn out quite as I had hoped or expected.  A friend disappoints me.  My job feels mundane.  In spite of praying and waiting (and occasional bouts of whining), I’m still single.  My body reminds me every day that I am indeed growing older and slowing down.   I long for more out of church.  More out of life.  Something richer.  More meaningful.  Less lonely.  I wonder, “Am I wasting my life?  Have I missed God’s purposes for…

Spike the Ball

A friend of mine thinks that we who do ministry need to learn to “spike the ball.” When football players finally get the ball into the end zone, they don’t stand around the goal post looking depressed, grumbling to one another about how many plays they had to run or talking about how they fumbled the ball on first down ten minutes
ago. No! They celebrate! They give…

I remember when I first began to understand that I wanted to give my life helping make disciples. I was introduced to the idea when I was still in high school. I began to grasp it and actually try to do it as a college student. I was captured by the vision of helping young men and women walk with God. It was a compelling life purpose; however, I often felt handicapped because I had never “been discipled.” Then, in my late twenties I went on staff with a collegiate ministry…