You want me to do what? Has God ever placed something on your heart to do and your first response was “ What?” Not “what” in a clarifying kind of way, but “ What?” in an “ Are you serious? ” kind of way. Too often when God places a calling on our hearts, our first response is to see our own limitations. I’m reminded of Moses, the Moses who parted the Red Sea. He had a similar response when God first called him. But Moses protested to God, “ Who am I to appear before Pharao

I love music. I often catch myself humming familiar tunes I grew up with although I never remember all the words—usually just the chorus. This was the case with “Higher Love” recorded in the 80’s. As I was praying and thinking about this blog topic, I kept singing, “Bring me a higher love; Bring me a higher love.” If you know the song hopefully, you were just singing it along with me in your head! Those are the only words I remembered, so I decided to look up the lyrics just

Love. The one thing everyone wants, desires, seeks. I am pretty sure it is the most talked about, written about, sung about word out there…and probably the most misunderstood. For most, love is a feeling, an emotion. It is a warm place in our hearts that makes us feel accepted, valued, and cared for. Sometimes it is hard to explain, but we know it (or at least think we do) when we feel it. Too often in this world it comes and goes. God’s Word paints a different picture of wha

I have a confession to make. I was traveling home the other day from a training, and as I walked through the airport, I passed an open area of seating and vending machines. I noticed an older gentleman peering at a vending machine as if he couldn’t figure out how to use it. I walked on to my gate, but something in me said, “Go back and see if he needs help.” So, I turned around and went back. I entered the area—keeping my distance—to assess if he really needed my assistance.

If you read my last blog, you know I am passionate about the role of Christian educators in education—especially those who serve in our public schools. My desire is to encourage and equip educators to let their light shine for Jesus! So many Christian educators I talk to tell me they feel alone and isolated. They desire to connect and bond with other Christians, but there is no framework or system to do so. Yet, God created us for relationship. Educators know the power of rel

As I sit at my computer to pen this blog, I am greatly conflicted. Part of me wants to ignore the nagging I feel to write this. The other part of me is angry and wants to lash out and spill all of my thoughts on the page. To make things worse, I am commenting on an article published by a revered organization—The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. I grew up watching Billy Graham, reading his books, and admiring him from afar. What a tremendous man of God he was. I respect

The command to “obey” or the term “obedience” can conjure up some pretty intense feelings for many people. Why? Because many have been forced to obey someone or something that was oppressive, mean, or downright cruel. This may not be true for all of us, but our human nature seems to buck up against someone else telling us what to do. In fact, that tendency goes back to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, who had been given the best of everything, chose to disobey the ONE comma

Dictionary.com defines the word “ignite” as to set on fire . I’m not sure this was my thinking when I titled the first official event of Victorious Educator Ministries. However, I do think it is an appropriate title for a gathering of Christian educators. It is my prayer that our hearts will be set on fire for Jesus and for fulfilling our calling as educators. Please excuse me as I digress this week and write a blog about the this upcoming Saturday! Bottom line—this event is

Before I start this blog, I want to share a quick true story. You see, the blog this week was not going to be this topic. In fact, I had a GREAT (at least I thought so) blog almost finished when my computer froze. No big deal, right? Computers freeze all the time. Well, I won’t bore you with the details, but basically my computer crashed, and I lost everything I had written. Later, when I tried to start over, I couldn’t recall many details at all. To be honest, I was a little

Some might say one of the advantages to being an educator is the opportunity for a fresh start each year while others might say one of the disadvantages to being an educator is the opportunity for a fresh start each year! You see, it doesn’t matter how difficult or how successful the previous year was. We all start over in August! In short order teachers all around the country will head back to school. It is my guess that many will be looking forward to a fresh start; howev

As I write this blog, many teachers are wrapping up their summer to begin a new school year. There is often great excitement and anticipation for what the new year will bring! While teaching has always been a complex, challenging, and rewarding career, I must admit that much has changed since I stepped into my first classroom thirty-five years ago. As I travel the country and talk with teachers, I am encouraged by their tenacity and somewhat astounded by what I hear. The task

If I am honest, I would have to confess that I don’t particularly like the word “suffering.” Over the years I have heard numerous pastors and Bible teachers share about how suffering is just part of life, especially the Christian life. I totally agree. Although I recognize that suffering is part of life, I still don’t like it. We all know there are “levels” of suffering. Suffering can range from getting our feelings hurt by unjust accusations to the loss of loved one. The ran

We all seem to want a simple fix these days. Social media creates in us a false sense of believing that we can have whatever we want. We are bombarded with the “best” of everything—finest vacations, exotic foods, fancy clothes, successful diets, effective exercise programs, and sound advice. Yet, there is a caveat. Have you heard the phrase, “Nothing can be achieved without enthusiasm” ? I think that needs to be revised to say , “Nothing can be achieved without enthusiasm AND

Any trekkies out there? Being married to one, I am all too familiar with the phrase “live long and prosper.” I suppose the reason this phrase is repeated so often is it really is the desire of our hearts. Who doesn’t want to live long and prosper? When you look at how most of us live, the focus is usually on extending our lives in some fashion with diet, exercise, medicine, surgery, or pursuing the fountain of youth! Prosperity is the American dream, right? While prosperity c

Setbacks are a part of life, unfortunately. Setbacks are not a respecter of persons. All of us will face our own desert experiences. Sometimes these experiences are of our own making. We have plenty of examples of this in the Bible (e.g., Israelites, Samson, David). Other times those setbacks have an eternal purpose that we won’t understand until much later. Regardless of the reason, there are some truths we must embrace in order to survive our setbacks and navigate the wilde

Do you ever lose sight of what is important? I do. Demands at home and work often monopolize my time and thoughts. I do my best to protect my Bible reading and prayer time because it is the only thing that helps me keep things in perspective. Without the Holy Spirit’s guidance through God’s Word, I’d really be in big trouble. I was listening to a sermon podcast recently on one of my flights. I found the sermon to be quite convicting, which happens to me in just about every se

If you have lived in America for any length of time, you have probably heard the idiom “pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” While I might be taking some liberty with the meaning, the phrase implies that we can, using our own effort, tackle any challenging situation. In other words, we don’t have to rely on anyone. We are independent. The concept of independence originated in Genesis when Adam and Eve traded dependence on God for dependence on self. Independence basically me

Yesterday I took a few moments to scroll through Facebook. I wanted a mindless task. I stumbled on a video shared by a fellow educator, and while I usually don’t take time to watch videos, this one looked interesting. It was hard to watch as eighteen teachers shared their disappointment, disillusionment, and frustration with the educational profession. All eighteen are reluctantly choosing to leave their jobs. Some will stay in the field of education, but most will not. Based

If you are human, you have struggled with consistency in some area of your life. I’m not really sure why it is so hard. But. It. Is. For example, have you ever worked hard to be consistent with eating right and exercising? Did you notice after a consistent period of time in both of these areas how good you felt about your accomplishment? You had proof that being consistent with how you ate and exercised yielded positive results. And yet…eventually you regressed. A few chips h

Who doesn’t love summer? Sunshine, flowers, pool, beach, and vacation (to name just a few highlights)! Summer is also a time when many of us hone our gardening skills. For me, I love to plant tomatoes. They go in the ground as small plants, and before I know it, they have grown into fruit producing bushes! Unfortunately, tomatoes are not the only things to grow in my gardening beds. Those pesky weeds are constantly trying to sneak in and steal nutrients from the soil. If I do