Growth is first internal, then external.

Whatever your job, your business, your ministry, or your finances, you can grow beyond it this year. Change is inevitable, growth is optional. Wouldn’t it feel good to CRUSH that invisible barrier you haven’t been able to penetrate?

Where is “home?” God is Home.

“Real” estate is not “real.” It is like a motel room. This world is tangible but it is temporary. Set your affection on the Person of God Himself and you will enter into true happiness.

Here are a few perspectives to keep your focus correct.

A sluggish start to a year is the worst thing you can do. Start your year like a jack-rabbit!

2020 so punched a hole in so many of our plans that we hardly want to get started on planning 2021!

Everyone is talking about the “last days.” Many are “bunkered” and “hunkered.”

Tuesday is coming. Everyone acts as if the world will end that night. It won’t.

Nothing comes to you. You have to go get it. You can’t depend on anything, anyone, or any other time. God Himself is waiting on you to go get it.

Is it possible to have something before you see it?

Your eye is the most sophisticated camera in the world.  It takes lenses, reflection, focus, and communication to send “sight” to the brain.

Your spirit must be equally focused to communicate “insight” into your soul. 

Here are three steps I use to “see” further into 2020 and “focus” that image into my soul:

This May was 50 years in the ministry for me.  I started preaching at 16 and have just turned 66!  I see so many pastors and leaders hurting.  Marriage stress…health breakdowns…children challenges…implosion from temptation.  If you love your pastor, read on.

I’ve developed a tool to stem the tide:  “Pastors University.”  It’s “50 lessons from 50 years.”

Here are the four basic areas of this one year course where I will personally teach four intensive “modules” that each last three days:

“New” is not just a position on a calendar.  It is a total frame of mind.  It clears out all your mistakes.  It opens up new possibilities for you and can reset your relationships.

Think about becoming “brand new” in these 5 important areas:

Intentionality is so critical.  Reactionary life never goes anywhere.

Why not be intentional about your plan for next year?  I like to put a plan in place to have the best year ever.

Here are my top four areas:

It takes much more effort to cut when your ax is dull.

If you stop often to restore your edge, you can fly through your work effortlessly!

How can you maintain your cutting edge day in and day out?

A story was told of two guys in a wood chopping competition.  One never stopped.  The second stopped every few minutes and sat under a shade tree.

When the competition ended, the second man actually had more wood cut.  He confessed his secret:  “When I stopped, I was sharpening my ax.”

Here are my 5 secrets to a “cutting edge”:

Someone great departed Earth last week:  Billy Graham’s spirit left his frail body and went to heaven.

He will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol this week.  All Congressional business will stop those two days. How did this simple North Carolina pastor dominate the world’s religious headlines for almost 70 years?

"Integrity."

Growth is first internal, then external.

Whatever your job, your business, your ministry, or your finances, you can grow beyond it this year. Change is inevitable, growth is optional.  Wouldn’t it feel good to CRUSH that invisible barrier you haven’t been able to penetrate?

This blog is somewhat of a confession.  Limits are my biggest weakness.  I over schedule, red-line, high performance everything.  As I come to the end of a year, I realize it. 

How can I change it this year?  “Margin.”

Where is “home?”  God is Home.

“Real” estate is not “real.” It is like a motel room.  This world is tangible but it is temporary.  Set your affection on the Person of God Himself and you will enter into true happiness.

Here are a few perspectives to keep your focus correct going into a New Year:

Everyone loves a “reset.”  I LOVE when the car trip-o-meter goes back to “00000” with one push of a button!  How do you get ready for this new year?  The secret of all growth is to be “reset.”

How do you get reset for the year?

"Stuck like Chuck".   It’s a phrase I use to describe the doldrums,  the “dead in the water” times of my life.  Everything becomes same ol' same ol',  acid-cardboard,  plain vanilla,  predictable and passionless. God is a God of endless variety.  His colors, patterns, and shapes are eye-popping. 

How do you get your creativity moving again?