SEPTEMBER 9, 2026

    “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.” 

― Abraham Lincoln

PROVERBS 15-16

25There is a way that appears to be right,

but in the end it leads to death. (16:25)

2 CORINTHIANS 1

 21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

JOURNAL 

M. Scott Peck’s statement that the opposite of love is laziness has really struck me because it seems to connect so many things I have been thinking about. Peck isn’t simply talking about being physically lazy. He is talking about the unwillingness to expend the energy necessary for our own spiritual growth or the growth of another. Seen that way, laziness is much deeper. It is allowing things to drift rather than doing the difficult work that love requires.

It makes me think about the law of entropy. Things naturally move toward disorder unless energy is introduced into the system. My body, relationships, faith, character, even my thoughts will drift if I simply leave them alone. Laziness gives in to entropy. Love pushes against it. Love requires energy. It requires me to teach, coach, prepare, forgive, confront, encourage, discipline, serve, surrender, and sometimes simply get on my knees and admit, like Lincoln, that my own wisdom is insufficient.

This brings me right back to 2 Timothy 1:7: power, love, and self-discipline. I see those three differently now. Power is the capacity God gives me to act. Love determines how and why I use that power. Self-discipline keeps me moving when comfort, fear, or selfishness tells me to stop. Maybe that is why love sits right in the middle. Without love, power can become selfish and discipline can become empty achievement. Love directs both toward growth.

And humility is essential to all of it. Proverbs reminds me that there is a way that seems right to me but can lead somewhere completely different. True humility is recognizing that I do not always know the way. Like Lincoln, sometimes the wisest thing I can do is fall to my knees. Yet humility also means recognizing that I am not powerless or insignificant. God has placed His Spirit within me. I am one tiny life in an incomprehensibly enormous universe, yet somehow God has chosen to work through that life.

So perhaps the question each day is much simpler than I make it: Am I cooperating with entropy, or am I cooperating with God? Am I choosing comfort, avoidance, selfishness, and fear, or am I choosing power, love, and self-discipline? Love will almost always cost me something. It requires energy, courage, humility, and surrender. But maybe that expenditure is exactly where life is found.

6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

1 PETER 5:6-7

SEPTEMBER 8, 2026

 “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

PROVERBS 13-14

 10Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy. (14:10)

1 CORINTHIANS 16

13Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. 14Do everything in love

JOURNAL 

Coaching football and teaching middle schoolers comes with a boatload of lessons that I am again learning. One that has really hit me this year is that every person matters and every person is unique in their design, personality, situation etc. It's easy to often try and put a label on a human, often that label is motivated by a desire to find some level of control in the world. I do it myself and have seen it way too often with coaches and teachers. I think it's because it's easier to write off a kid than it is to wade through the difficulties in their personalities and perspectives.

Yet the one thing that Jesus continually preached against was judging when really what he wants from us is for us to love always. That means that we never give up or label a kid as lost or a loser or without hope. That means we are to never give up hope in a kids potential. We are to always hope and always believe in their potential to reflect the essence of God. They are God's creation and if we truly believe that...then we should always be wary of our role in all that God is doing in their lives. We should always be hopeful and seek to honor and notice the glimpses of the creator.

These last 7 years having the opportunity to teach and coach has taught me that no moment in life should ever be taken for granted. There are golden moments happening every minute and I just need to be more aware that my effort, my commitment, my discipline, my passion and my obedience matter. They matter because I am here and God has given me this day, this hour, this moment to spread his goodness to a world that too often takes for granted the amazing blessing of today.

"See, grown-ups spend so much time doggedly slaving toward the better car, the perfect house, the big day that will finally make them happy when happy just walked by wearing a bicycle helmet two sizes too big for him. "

 ~ RICK REILLY

SEPTEMBER 7, 2026

 “Another characteristic of human nature—perhaps the one that makes us most human—is our capacity to do the unnatural, to transcend and hence transform our own nature.” 

― M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled

PROVERBS 11-12

16Fools show their annoyance at once,

but the prudent overlook an insult. (12:16)

1CORINTHIANS 15:33-58

58Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

JOURNAL 

One of the most amazing things about being human is our ability to change what seems hardwired within us. Our emotional reactions are incredibly powerful. Many were formed when we were children, shaped by pain, fear, pleasure, rejection, acceptance, and the need to feel safe. Repeated long enough, those responses became automatic. Even decades later, something can happen and suddenly I am not responding as the man I am today, but from patterns created by a child trying to emotionally survive.

Changing those patterns is extraordinarily difficult. I can sometimes feel the old response rising before I have even had time to think about it. Retreat, defend, attack, control, withdraw. The intensity can be startling. Yet this is where Peck’s observation becomes so profound. Human beings possess this strange capacity to recognize our own nature and then choose to act against it. We can feel anger and choose patience. Feel fear and move forward. Feel insulted and overlook it. Feel the desire to retreat into ourselves and instead choose love. We can actually interrupt the pattern.

But the older I get, the harder it is for me to believe that this capacity originates entirely within us. If I am simply the product of my experiences, instincts, conditioning, and biology, where does the power come from to stand outside of those things and say, “No, I will not respond that way anymore”? There seems to be something deeper at work, a Spirit and a power that does not originate within me but can work through me.

Maybe this is part of what Scripture means by transformation. God does not merely make my circumstances easier. He gives me the power to become someone I could not become through instinct alone. Proverbs says the fool immediately reacts to an insult, while the prudent person can let it pass. Paul describes maturity as putting away childish ways. That is not passivity. It may be one of the hardest forms of strength imaginable.

Perhaps this is one of the clearest places I can see God at work in my life. The old response may still appear. The emotion may still be powerful. The wiring may still be there. But it no longer has to determine what I do next. I can stop. I can surrender it. I can choose differently. And every time I do, I participate in something greater than self-improvement. I participate in transformation.

That is why I need God, Scripture, prayer, and His Spirit. Not primarily to make my life comfortable, but to keep transforming me into the man I was created to become. To move beyond instinct, fear, ego, and old wounds and increasingly respond with power, discipline, and above all, love. Maybe that is what it means to put away childish things. And maybe that is why Paul ultimately says that of faith, hope, and love, the greatest is love.

11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 CORINTHIANS 13:11-13

SEPTEMBER 6, 2026

 “[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.” 

― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

PROVERBS 9-10

29The way of the Lord is a refuge for the blameless,

but it is the ruin of those who do evil.(10:29)

1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-32

9For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

JOURNAL 

 Every day is a new day, full of possibility, challenge, and adventure. The question is how I will choose to see it. Will I approach life cautiously, trying to protect myself from failure and discomfort, or will I see each day as an opportunity to discover what God has placed within me and what He might do through me when I am willing to step beyond what is comfortable?

I have been thinking differently about goals. I want to put big things on the calendar. Hard things. Things far enough away that they require preparation, discipline, sacrifice, and growth. But I don't want to see those dates as destinations I am struggling toward so that I can finally arrive and rest. I want them to be targets and tests, something on the horizon that forces me outside the boundaries I have created for myself. There is something powerful about choosing a challenge before life chooses one for me. It teaches me to embrace discomfort rather than continually organizing my life around avoiding it. The goal becomes a reason to train, prepare, learn, sacrifice, and discover that many of the limits I assumed were real were simply the edges of my comfort zone.

And that carries into everything else. If I learn to voluntarily embrace the hard in one area of my life, I become more willing to embrace it everywhere else. Difficult conversations, difficult practices, difficult problems, difficult seasons. Instead of asking, "How can I make this easier?" I can begin asking, "What is this asking me to become?"

But I don't want achievement to become another god. These goals aren't about proving my worth. My worth has already been established by God. That is what makes Paul's words so powerful: "By the grace of God I am what I am," followed almost immediately by, "I worked harder than all of them." Grace didn't make Paul passive. Grace unleashed him. Because his identity was settled, he was free to give everything he had.

That is how I want to live. I surrendered my life to God in Belize in 1989, but surrender has become a decision that must be renewed every morning. Maybe part of that surrender is refusing to waste the abilities, opportunities, and time He has given me. I want to put things on the calendar that scare me a little and require me to become more disciplined today because of something I have chosen to face tomorrow. Not because life begins when I reach that date. Life is happening during the preparation. The target simply gives direction to the struggle.

I don't want comfort to become the destination of my life. I want to keep testing the boundaries of what I think I can do, not to prove that I am enough, but because God's grace tells me I already am. The goal on the calendar isn't ultimately the purpose. The person I am becoming on the way to it is.

 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7

SEPTEMBER 5, 2026

 “God created us for this: to live our lives in a way that makes him look more like the greatness and the beauty and the infinite worth that he really is. This is what it means to be created in the image of God.” 

― John Piper

PROVERBS 7-8

32“Now then, my children, listen to me;

blessed are those who keep my ways.

33Listen to my instruction and be wise;

do not disregard it.

34Blessed are those who listen to me,

watching daily at my doors,

waiting at my doorway.

35For those who find me find life

and receive favor from the Lord.

36But those who fail to find me harm themselves;

all who hate me love death.” (8:32-36)

1 CORINTHIANS 14:21-40

 24But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, 25as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

JOURNAL 

This life is incredibly short. Whether I live ten more years or fifty, my time here is only a moment in the enormous span of eternity. I have always hated endings, whether it is the end of a vacation, a season, a relationship, or ultimately a life. But endings are woven into existence. Seasons end so new ones can begin, and eventually my time here will end too. I don't say that morbidly. Increasingly, I see it as a call to wake up. I don't want to waste a single minute of the life I have been given.

But I am beginning to understand that not wasting my life does not mean frantically accomplishing more. In fact, that could become another way of wasting it. If God is love, and love is the highest purpose of my life, then the question is how fully I can inhabit the time God gives me and use it to love, grow, create, serve, and help others grow. John Piper's words resonate with me because perhaps that is what being made in God's image ultimately means: living in such a way that my particular life points beyond itself toward the goodness, beauty, power, and love of the One who gave it to me.

That changes my understanding of faith. Faith is not a way to manipulate God into making my life easier. It is relationship with the Creator so that I can become fully alive during the brief time I am here. Proverbs says, “Those who find me find life.” Jesus says not to spend today consumed with tomorrow, but to seek God's Kingdom first. Paul describes a community living in such a way that someone encountering them would say, “God is really among you!” Maybe that is what I want my life to say too. Not because I preached it constantly, but because something about the way I loved, taught, coached, led, created, forgave, encouraged, and lived made God's presence visible.

I have wasted too much time imagining some future version of life where everything is finally right. More money. More success. Fewer problems. Greater certainty. But there will always be another problem, another uncertainty, another ending somewhere ahead. Meanwhile, this is my life. Today is not preparation for my life. Today is my life. The people in front of me are the people I have been given to love. The problems in front of me are opportunities to grow. The gifts I possess are the gifts I have been given to use. This moment is the only place where I can actually meet God.

And I am grateful because my life is not over. I still have today. I can love my family. I can love Marci. I can teach a child, coach a player, encourage someone who is struggling, create something meaningful, solve a problem, forgive someone, make a phone call, listen, laugh, pray, notice beauty, and simply be present. None of those moments are insignificant if they are lived in love.

Maybe “seek first His Kingdom” is ultimately an invitation to stop postponing life. Stop waiting for circumstances to become perfect. Stop allowing fear of tomorrow or regret over yesterday to steal today. Choose God. Own the gifts He gave me. Live the mission. Love the people in front of me. And be completely present for this extraordinary, temporary gift of being alive.

Someday my last day will come. Until then, I don't want to waste my life worrying about when it will end. I want to use every day I am given becoming more capable of love and giving that love away. If I can do that, then however long or short my time here ultimately proves to be, I will have truly lived it.

31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

MATTHEW 6:31-34