I was ready to quit my master’s degree program. I had made an appointment with the professor who was in charge of my thesis project. My plan was to gracefully bow out of the program. I had finished all the coursework, but I made the mistake of looking at the bound copies of master’s theses … More Plod hard daily!
We are not meant to “do” life by ourselves. Life is too short not to have deep friendships that can keep us accountable and on the right track. My first experience with an accountability partner was on the mission field. A missionary friend whom I’ll call Paul was having some problems in his marriage. Paul … More Doing life together!
When I was a youth minister, I learned the power of encouragement from an idea I got out of a book of youth ministry ideas. It was called the “car wash.” To hold a car wash, line students up in two parallel lines facing each other, then choose someone to walk through the car wash. … More Everyone needs a car wash!
There are many different ways to encourage people. Think how encouraged a single mom or a struggling young couple who have children would be by an offer of free babysitting. There are people around us every day who feel marginalized because they lack resources or relationships; we just have to see them. In every group … More People need encouragement!
I received a shocking phone call from an old friend one Christmas Eve several years ago (to protect his identity I’ll call him Doug). I had not talked to Doug since junior high school, and he was drunk, depressed, and suicidal. He lived far away from me in Arizona and had found my contact information … More Speak life!
