The cost of obedience is not only what we leave behind. Sometimes it is following God when we cannot see what our obedience accomplished. In Soul Weathered, I write about the cost of obedience. I talk about being abandoned to God. About following Him when following costs us something. About times when I have questioned Him, wrestled with Him, and found myself at odds with Him because what was happening didn't look anything like what I thought would happen. I wish I could say

Life is very full. We can organize it. Structure it. Schedule it. Arrange every minute of every day so that we can get everything done we think needs to be done. I remember as a young man in business carrying something called a Day-Timer. I tried to keep my life scheduled down to the hour. In my mind, success required organization. It required structure. It required me to stay on task. And that followed me for a lot of years. The problem was what happened when the schedule go

What happens after the excitement of God's call wears off—and you're still there? Recently, someone asked me about a question in Soul Weathered. It comes out of one of the devotions dealing with staying with God when He calls us into something. The question was: How do you stay present with God in the middle of it? He wanted to know what I meant by that. I've been thinking about the question again, because I know exactly why I wrote it. There have been things in my life that

The enemy brings death and destruction, but Christ offers life. Embrace it and live fully! I don't talk a great deal in Soul Weathered about spiritual warfare, Satan, or the enemy. But that doesn't mean I don't believe it's real. We live in a world at war. Scripture tells us: “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”—1 Peter 5:8 That's a reality we shouldn't ignore. Over the years, I've spent a lot of time talking with men about s

The more we are fed by God, the more we discover how much more of Him there is to desire. I've been thinking about hunger and thirst. Scripture tells us: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”—Matthew 5:6 But what does that actually look like? What does it mean to hunger and thirst after God? I don't think the world necessarily knows it's hungry and thirsty for God. People are hungry for life. They're hungry for belonging, accept

What do you do when life feels so dark that you can't think of anything to be thankful for? Many years ago, when I was in my late thirties, I was trying to follow God and get to a place where I could be more at one with Him and His will for my life. But I had also made a lot of decisions without Him. Some out of ambition. Some out of trying to secure my future. Some, probably, out of ego. And I had gotten myself into a tough place financially. I had dug a hole for myself, and

How God has revealed more of Himself to me through the people walking beside me. There are eight Waypoints in Soul Weathered. They represent different places in my life where I began to recognize a theme in what God was doing and what He was showing me. Some came through being a father. Some through discovering God's relentless pursuit of me. Some through beginning to understand eternity and His Kingdom. Others came through wrestling with my own flesh, my failures, my questio

Sometimes the greatest comfort isn't an explanation. It's knowing you're not alone. There are moments in life that never leave you. One of those moments for me happened in a children's hospital. Our oldest daughter had been battling Crohn's disease. It seemed like one setback after another. Every time we thought she was getting better, something else happened. This day was especially hard. She was sixteen years old, fully aware of what was happening, and the doctors needed to

Why the world needs the unique person God created you to be. One of the devotions in Soul Weathered is called A Role Only You Can Play. It's built on a truth that has shaped the way I've looked at people for years. Long before you were born... before anyone knew your name... before your parents held you... God knew you. He wasn't surprised by your personality. He wasn't surprised by your gifts. He wasn't surprised by your struggles. He designed you with intention. He created

Hearing God's voice is not the destination. Knowing God is. One of the foundations of Soul Weathered is learning to hear God's voice. Not because hearing His voice is the goal. It's because God is always wanting to speak into our lives. No matter what's going on. No matter where we are. No matter whether we're facing a crisis or celebrating a victory. He wants to be involved. He wants to speak into our problems. He wants to speak into our successes. He wants to speak into how

Everything abandoned to God will be returned to us, either in this lifetime or in eternity. One of the devotions in Soul Weathered is called Abandoned to God. In it, I make a statement that someone recently asked me about. I wrote: "Everything abandoned to God will be returned to us, either in this lifetime or in eternity." Do I really believe that? Absolutely. Recently I had lunch with a friend I've known for several years. Twenty-six months ago, he made a decision that most

“Sometimes faith is walking away from the throne without an answer, knowing the question is safe with God” Why some questions must be carried with God before they can be answered Soul Weathered contains fifty-two devotions. One for every week of the year. There's a reason for that. It isn't simply because men don't like to read. It isn't because I thought people couldn't handle more. It's because I've learned something over the years about walking with God. Sometimes it take

There is a place where the life of Christ begins to flow effortlessly through you. One of the recurring themes throughout Soul Weathered is becoming the man God created you to be. Not the man the world tells you to become. Not the man your fears have shaped. Not even the man you think you ought to be. The man God imagined when He created you. For years, I wondered what that really looked like. How do you become that man? How do you move beyond simply believing in Christ to ac

Adventure taught me how to be a guide. God taught me how to be a man. If you've been reading Soul Weathered for very long, you may have noticed that I write a lot about the heart. About grace. About fear. Joy. Fatherhood. Walking with God. Sometimes I wonder if someone reading these reflections might think, "This guy writes a lot about feelings." And they'd be partly right. But I also want you to know something about me. I've been an adventurer all my life. From the time I wa

One of the themes throughout Soul Weathered is what I call our inner weather. Not the weather outside us. The weather within us. The emotions no one else sees. The conversations no one else hears. One of those conversations has followed me for most of my adult life. It's the way I speak to myself. I've always been impatient. Not just with traffic. Not just with delays. Not even primarily with other people. I've been impatient with me. For years, every little mistake became an

One of the things I wrestle with in Soul Weathered is mystery. Not because I enjoy unanswered questions. But because there are questions that simply don't have easy answers. Sometimes I wonder about the person who might pick up Soul Weathered—the agnostic, the atheist, or simply the person who has been deeply wounded—and think, This doesn't answer my questions. Honestly, I understand. Because I've asked many of those same questions myself. In my early thirties, I went through

One of the recurring themes throughout Soul Weathered is the relentless love of God. His pursuit of us. His kindness toward us. His fatherly care. Over and over, I've written about God's love flowing toward us. But recently, God has been showing me something different through my granddaughter. Something about how we love Him back. My granddaughter often spends the night with us. And like many four-year-olds, she likes to sleep close. Sometimes she sleeps between us. Sometimes

"Jesus died for you. God calls you. And eventually, there are steps of obedience only you can take." Jesus told a story about a shepherd who left ninety-nine sheep to go after one that was lost. I've heard that story most of my life. Usually, I heard it from the perspective of evangelism. The lost person. The person far from God. The one who needs rescuing. And that's true. But recently I've been wondering something else. What if the one is you? Not you as part of a crowd. No

One of the devotions in Soul Weathered is called Immortals. And if I'm honest, most of my Christian life I didn't think much about eternity. I believed in it. I believed heaven was real. I believed that through Christ I would spend eternity with God. But I didn't spend much time thinking about what eternity actually meant. Like many Christians, I think I viewed life as a bell curve. You are born. You grow. You reach some kind of peak. Then your body declines. And eventually y

I've been thinking about time. My time. My days. My plans. And honestly, whether I'm doing enough with any of them. Most mornings, I wake up thinking about what needs to get done. The calls I need to make. The projects that need attention. The responsibilities that seem to multiply faster than I can keep up with them. And if I'm honest, I often wake up with a subtle feeling that many men carry: I'm behind. Behind on my goals. Behind on my plans. Behind on where I thought I'd