God has placed you right where you are on purpose and for a purpose. He wants to use you as a lamp in the darkness to bring light and encouragement to all those around you who don’t know him yet – to those who are stuck in isolation and hopelessness. So, as you begin to go back out into the wide world, stop and look around you. Who doesn’t know Jesus yet? What can you do to bring hope, light, love, and healing to them today?
Read MoreGalatians 6:10 says, "So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone…"
May Day is a fantastic opportunity for you to do good for your neighbors, coworkers, or employees. As you form new friendships, God will open the door for you to share the best gift of all: the gospel of life.
Read MoreI got to do the coolest thing on December 10, 2018 - I had the incredible privilege of donating one of my kidneys to my friend Bill. It’s a long story and has been covered in a previous blog and a few shows, but the point I want to get across is that this kidney shortage is a serious thing. About a year ago, Joe Carrol from BLE in San Antonio, TX, told me about his friend Larry needing a kidney. Joe had tried to get qualified, but his kidneys are not able to be shared for medical reasons. Martha and I offered to do a show for Larry so that he could share it with potential donors and see if he could round up a new kidney to replace his failing ones. We did the show, and many people stepped up to get tested, and one made it all the way to the finish line. Larry’s lifesaving surgery will hopefully be scheduled in the next couple of months.
Read MoreIt’s an exciting week here at iWork4Him! On April 15th of 2021, iWork4Him celebrates 8 years as a media ministry focused on the intersection of faith and work. We have interviewed over 3000 people on over 1800 shows resulting in thousands of hours of video/audio available to a nation of workplace believers hungry for encouragement and resources to help them live out their faith at work. But it might not have happened if Martha and I weren’t obedient to the call of God on our lives…Read on.
Read MoreMartha and I acquired a little house in the middle of small-town, mid-west America recently. The place is 125 years old and drew us in immediately with its quaint appearance and excellent location. But here’s the funny thing about old houses: they look great on the outside, but they usually need A LOT of fixing on the inside.
Ever since iWork4Him launched, we have used Romans 12:2 as our team verse.
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”
You and me… we’re a lot like my old house. Our lives might look pretty good on the outside, but the inside is full of broken, malfunctioning, outdated things. But when we give our lives to Christ, God does a full inspection of the interior of us and prepares for a complete remodel on our hearts, minds, and souls. Just like Martha and I had to rip out the old plumbing, sewer, and electrical in our old house, God dismantles all of the bad connections, wiring, and plumbing inside of our minds and replaces them with brand-new, more effective versions.
Read MoreI am a reader; I love to read. The volumes I pick up are often about the faith and work movement or are specific books to prepare for an iWork4Him podcast, but I also enjoy a good novel. In particular, the fiction of C.S. Lewis has been a longtime favorite, but I’ll be the first to admit that his non-fiction has always been a bit of a stretch for me. Three times in the last 40 years, I have picked up his book Mere Christianity, started it, and then not finished.
I was recently inspired to pick up Mere Christianity again when I heard that it was based on C.S. Lewis’s radio appearances during World War II. Apparently, Lewis was asked by the UK Government to come on air and tell people about Christianity, to share his hope in a time that was incredibly dark for Europe. For many nights, C.S. Lewis talked about how he went from being an Atheist to becoming an all-out Christ Follower and Christian Apologist. He had the opportunity to educate a nation in peril about eternal hope found in truth.
As a radio host myself, this story was intriguing enough to help me finish Mere Christianity. In the book, there is a particular quote of Lewis’s that stuck with me. In it, he expounds on Matthew 5:48, “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Read MoreMartha and I have been going through this excellent team-building training/leadership training over the last year from GiANTWorldwide. It has truly been revolutionary in how we interact with one another and how we interact with our team – all of whom are outsourced. There are so many qualities a good leader should have, but upon self-evaluation, the one I need to work on the most is the “Provisional/Plan/Promise” conversation. It turns out that the words I use could be undermining my leadership at iWork4Him.
If you are a dreamer like me, who is also an entrepreneur, you probably come up with original ideas all the time to keep yourself busy. I read a ton of books for the podcast and run across fresh ideas all the time, so I feel like I am continually filtering out my many ideas to only share the cream of the crop. However, when I dream out loud, sometimes I am inadvertently communicating that I plan to carry these dreams into realities. All I was doing was dreaming, but because I didn’t tell everyone that I was dreaming, they thought I was espousing a new direction or directive. So, Martha has learned to ask me. Is that provisional (dream), a plan (something we potentially will consider), or a promise (truly a direction we will take.)
So, what about you. Do you offer clarifying statements when you share a new idea? Do you let people know whether you are dreaming, planning, or promising an outcome?
Read MoreHeads up: the subject of this blog might make you uncomfortable, BUT it will be worth it, I promise! In fact, I believe that the future of the Church depends on what we are talking about today: the fact that you have a God-given calling and that calling doesn’t retire.
Have you ever wondered if the “American Dream” version of Retirement (retirement = pleasure) is healthy? Is it what is best for the Body of Christ? I can’t help but think that if God intended us to work for 40 years and then rest and relax for 30 or 40 years, He would have said so in Scripture. Instead, what He said is that we need to learn to be content. He said that we need to weekly find peace, relax, and get refreshed in preparation for what is next… and there is a next if you are still alive. Heck, Moses didn’t start fulfilling his calling until he was 80 years old!
What this country needs, and what the Body of Christ needs, is a generation of Christ-following retirees who are itching to use the gifts God has given them to fulfill God’s purpose for them. Retirees are in the perfect position to shape and influence the lives of those coming up in the ranks of the next generations.
Read MoreMartha and I just threw a fresh coat of paint on the outside of our house, along with a new blanket of mulch. Of course, it’s still the same old house, with the same old dirt in front of it; it just has a fresh outer coating.
Sometimes people think this is what becoming a Christ-follower is like: a new coat of paint on life – Christian coral or Believer blue or Salvation salmon. A pretty coating of religious behavior. But that is like putting makeup on a pig (no offense to pigs.) When you surrender to Jesus, He starts building a new you from the ground up! Yes, He uses your existing DNA, but everything that matters about you is changing. It’s more like taking an old house down to the studs and rebuilding it than like a coat of paint. We don’t add a new outside veneer; rather, we become new from the inside all the way to the outside.
So, what about you? Are you just putting on a fresh paint job, or are you allowing God to do a full restoration?
Read MoreAbout six months ago, I noticed one of my pavers popping up higher than those around it. I thought it might be an anomaly, but it kept getting worse and eventually became a tripping hazard. I didn’t know exactly what was under the paver causing it to pop up, but I suspected it was an evil root plotting to destroy my cool sidewalk. Yesterday, I decided to find out.
This operation required the right tools to remove the pavers and cut out the evil root. Then I had to bring in fresh soil to replenish what the root had displaced and carefully put the paver back in place. After I did all of that, I again have a beautiful sidewalk.
This is so much like life as a Christian!
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit moves into our hearts.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you…?”
And as the new resident, the Holy Spirit has the ultimate goal of perfecting us – of getting rid of the tripping hazards in our hearts. However, to do so, he has to cut out all the evil that has rooted itself inside and which plots to destroy our lives.
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