Steph Curry is the rage of the NBA.  He’s the greatest three-point shooter of all time.  He, his wife Ayesha, and their little girl Riley have become a model family for America.  What a lot of people don’t know, however, is that his parents led their family in a half-hour Bible devotion every morning before school.  I’m concerned about the families I see. We raised our six children with the Word of God at the center.  That’s probably why all six of them are involved in the ministry.

Here are five easy ways you can surround your family with Biblical truth:

Everywhere I go, people ask me, “How can I marry someone, like Melanie, who will stay together with me for a lifetime?”  Now, after 40 years together with her, I think I can help you in that. 

How to Marry the Right Person for Life:

I hate cruise control.  I hate it but I love it.  But I hate it.  It is so limiting.   It requires me to go only at a certain pace.  I love it because I can relax and just ride.  I hate it because I want to get there ahead of the guy in front of me! In our world today, everyone is in a hurry.  Patients are dying in hospitals because of the haste to move on to the next patient.  Everyone is on the move.  We are squeezing every second out of one activity to pour into the next one.

Think about these things when you are galloping toward your next ferry that is about to pull out:

Stress is killing people.  Guilt is not far behind.  In between those two extremes is a simple word:  “No.”  Getting that word out is the hard thing.  We hint, we beat around the bush, we psychologize.  We stay mad because we couldn’t say that word.  We avoid certain people and events because we can’t say that word.  Business leaders, parents, pastors, and politicians all have a difficult time saying that word. Your world will change when someone shows you how to say “No.”  I’ve battled it for years.  After all, they’re my friend.  What if I ruin a relationship?  Didn’t Christ teach me to serve?  What if their reputation tells me that what they borrow will never be returned?  How can I add another thing to an already overloaded schedule?  Stress or guilt?

Here are a few helpers to help you get that word out:

How do you know if you are going in the wrong direction or making a wrong decision?  Is God able to get your attention?  Have you ever “gone over the cliff” and you never had a clue you were close to the edge?  Balaam was a prophet in the Old Testament.  He was headed in the wrong direction (Num. 22).  God used his donkey to try to tell him.  Balaam was too hardheaded to listen and he finally lost his life. I have seen four ways God uses people to warn me that I am moving in a wrong direction.  If you don’t read on, you may be close to the cliff and not even know it!  

The donkey in the story did four things that people also do who are trying to warn you of a wrong direction:

Thursday,  May 8th, 1976 was a big day.  It was my 23rd birthday and the day my bride came walking down the aisle…40 years ago.  I have to stop and reflect on why I made a good choice.

Here are the reasons that came to my mind this week:

40 years ago this week, I got married.  Two weeks later, I was in Africa with my bride.  I spent the better part of two years with her in the “bush” of Ghana and Nigeria often with no electricity and no running water.  Why have I invested 35 million dollars of the Lord’s money overseas in the last 33 years (and almost that much in local missions in the U.S.)?

As I reflect on this last forty years, here are a few thoughts that come to my mind:

My Daddy had a famous phrase:  “Keep it simple, hang loose, travel light.”  I remember a time I was helping my daughter move home from London.  She had at least eight suitcases.  We were trying to get on the subway for the airport and I found myself at the bottom of an escalator sprawled on the floor with all eight piled on top of me!  WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF. 

It convicted me to unload in several areas:

So many spiritual leaders are competing these days.  Visibility, getting noticed, and ranking is huge.  Being the biggest, fastest growing and having the largest audience seems to be all that matters.  Where did all this come from and where will it end? 

Here is how I keep that focus continually:

I’ve been concerned lately about the Biblical illiteracy in our generation.  A good friend of mine asked me, “What is an epistle?”  I told him, of course, it is the wife of an apostle! I’ve read the Bible through many times and taught each of the 66 books.

Here are my top ten suggestions for becoming a better Bible student:

I’ve been a Christian for over 55 years and a pastor for 40 years.  If I could tell you one of my greatest secrets of success, it would be: learn to stay in step with the Holy Spirit.  That’s exactly how Paul put it:  “If we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5: 25).

How do we walk with Him? 

“The problem with being deceived is that you are deceived.  If you knew you were deceived, you would no longer be deceived!”  Leaders get blindsided.  They didn’t see something coming then it hits them. 

How do you protect yourself from a blindside hit that can scar you for life?

Is it possible that your thought life is holding you back?  I’ve watched hundreds of leaders succeed or fail and almost always it goes back to one thing:  how much they change their thought life. 

Here are a few secrets to a successful thought life:

Fights, fights, everywhere.  In the streets, on airplanes, at political rallies.  I have never seen Americans so on edge and willing to fight at the drop of a hat. 

How do we keep our cool?

Everyone has read 1 Corinthians 13.  Most Christians know it as the love chapter.  I’ve read it a hundred times but struggle to DO IT.  The words seem to blend into a beautiful picture, like a work of art.  The problem, however, is if I just LOOK at it but can’t implement it. I looked at 1 Cor. 13 a different way the other day. 

Here is the way I read it this time:

Everybody sets goals, especially in a new year.  Some are attainable and some are hopeless.  By now, many have abandoned their goals for the year and some never set any!  As a pastor for over 40 years, I learned how to set goals that were motivated by faith. 

Back in September, I could not do a single push-up (maybe one “girl” push-up!).  I felt I could work up to 50 push-ups if I just added one a day.  With the help of a push-up app, I did 172 yesterday (in five sets).  Don’t ask me next year because I may be back down to five!

Just like building up in your push-ups, here are some secrets of setting “faith goals”:

We can put people on the moon but we can’t get cell phones to work everywhere.  Communication runs our world now.  From social media to digital cable, Internet, and (of course) smartphones, we all have to learn to communicate better.

Here are some communication skills I have had to sharpen:

Last Tuesday was a major event in my life:  my Dad of 97 years went to heaven.  We cared for him in our home for over six years after my mother died.  He was married for 63 years and in the ministry for 66 years.  This blog is about “generational leadership,” the passing of lessons from fathers to children.  

Here goes my best shot at five things I got from him:

Great leaders have great attitudes.  They always keep their sights above the line.  They know if they let that attitude dip below the line, they will eventually crash.

Here are four personal attitudes I regularly check:

Marriage has to have a foundation.  If it doesn’t, you will endlessly drift on the sea of culture, disappointment, and changes.  I have boiled down my seven most important lessons that give Melanie and I stability now in our 40th year of marriage.  

Check out how you are doing in these seven areas and see if one needs to be adjusted: