Blog

I love budgeting. Three words you don’t normally hear from a 23-year-old guy. If you make it all the way through this monster post, I’m fairly certainly budgeting will start growing on you too. My wife Niki and I took the 13-week Financial Peace University course by Dave Ramsey and decided to put a budget into action when we got married. We’ve been following it faithfully for the last 7 months, and it’s been unbelievably freeing. ...

Some say clothes make the man. I say apps make the phone. If you don’t have an iPod, iPhone, or iPad, you’ve effectively rejected consumerism or you’ve just spent your money on the wrong technology. [Totally kidding, but by now you’re offended and the rest of this post wouldn’t be helpful for you anyway.] I love good apps, and as my closest companions know, I’m evangelistic about products and services I love, so it’s my pleasure to present to you… ...

Prayer appears to be the least effective thing we can do. I often think to myself, “God, I have so much work to do today, there’s no way I can make the time to just talk to you.” I couldn’t be more off base with that thought. Prayer is the least utilized yet most powerful weapon in our spiritual life.  We pray to acknowledge our weakness. To ask for God’s strength and power to work through us. To move mountains. To move God. One hundred percent of our prayers are heard by God, and 100% are answered by Him as yes, no, or later. ...

It’s nearly a daily occurrence for me to throw up a half-hearted-mid-chew prayer to God as I eagerly dive into a bowl of Reese’s Puffs. It’s more than a rushed supplication. It’s an indicator of a deeper issue. I’m impatient. I’m too impatient to take a half a minute to thank God for his provision. I’m too impatient to consistently and continually seek God in prayer. I’m too impatient to ignore a phone call or text or tweet, so instead I choose to interrupt a conversation with a real, live human being that I’m talking to face-to-face. I’m too impatient to sit down for 20 minutes and write a single blog post in one sitting (this line is being added in during round three). And I’m certainly far too impatient to deal with customer service over the phone. ...

What Would Jesus Do dominated wristbands in the 90s (but it’s hard to give much credit to 90s trends when dressing like the Fresh Prince was cool and wearing backwards pants was totally acceptable). In reality, the WWJD bands caused people to pause and ponder what Jesus would do in their shoes. It’s a great question for analyzing situations and (hopefully) making good decisions based on how we think the Messiah would respond. ...

Isn’t it funny how those who clean houses for a living have dirty homes? Or how repairmen have all kinds of broken things around the house? It seems backwards, but I’m an offender myself. I’m a missionary who isn’t missional.  Talking with college students about Jesus is my day job, and I’ve recently realized I have a tendency to leave my work on campus. I have a heart to reach Ohio University for Jesus, but I’ve managed to forget my duty to share my faith outside of my vocation. ...

I’ve never been in a fight, but from what I understand, the biggest group with the toughest guys normally wins. Except in the case of Gideon. He is the self-proclaimed weakest person in his family, and he comes from the scrawniest family around. But God promises to win a battle with him and his 32,000 men. That is, until God decides that’s too big of an army. Judges 7:3 Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight. ...

“I would probably believe in God if he showed himself to me. Or if I had a near death experience and had some vision. If he came down to me and said, ‘I am God. Believe in me.’ Then I would start believing” In my encounters, visions and near death experiences top the charts in what it would take for those who don’t believe in God to place their faith in Him. ...

Results show that over thirty days with no change in diet and no exercise you can lose 20 pounds! What a delight! All we have to do is take a pill, make no changes in our life, and we can lose weight. Sign me up! Whether or not the claims we hear each day from every direction of the media are true, I think it highlights a problem much larger than obesity in our culture. ...

Within the past week, millions of resolutions have been made by people all across the world… lose weight exercise more read a book watch less TV spend more time with my family invest more money …and the majority of people will give up by the end of the month.  Why is it that we quickly give up on making changes? The issue is the “resolution” itself. ...