Words of Hope: Let Your Heart Take Courage

With war stories and upsetting news, I believe the most powerful decision is to praise and pray. When we as followers of Christ become afraid, when we take our eyes off Jesus, we give fear power. We give ...

Continue reading →

Words of Hope: Real Leverage

Dad understood leverage which can be a tough concept to grasp. In my opinion, Dad understood leverage so well on the basketball court which helped him understand the value of leverage in the home. In basketball, leverage is crucial...

Continue reading →

Words of Hope: Miraculous Power

My dad started a practice of letter writing at camp and for the last fifty-plus summers, student-athletes pause during the week to write a letter to a family member or key mentor. The students can leave the letter open...

Continue reading →

Words of Hope: Handling Evil

I have heard two sermons now on the devil. They are both wildly confusing and humbling stories. The first is about Job. Satan demands to sift Job like wheat, to crush his faith and get him to curse God....

Continue reading →

Words of Hope: Metanoia

I love the word metanoia. It’s not necessarily a pretty word but the meaning is beautiful to me. It means a change in thinking and behaving resulting from penitence or spiritual conversion with a future orientation. This season of...

Continue reading →

Words of Hope: Predicting the Future

I like to guess what will happen in the future. I would like to be a prophet. I hate to be caught unprepared. The problem is my prophesy track record is terrible and by Old Testament standards worthy of...

Continue reading →

Words of Hope: Forgiveness Work

I have been mediating on a sentence I wrote last week. “Dad did the work of forgiving his father.” Work is a true description of the forgiveness process. It is the purposeful effort necessary to achieve a specific...

Continue reading →

Words of Hope: The Power of Story

My friend reached out to tell me about a new form of Christian counseling that involves writing out a traumatic story and walking through that story with a trained facilitator in a small group setting. The process is...

Continue reading →

Words of Hope: The Sound of Freedom

One of the most misunderstood, difficult concepts on the planet is forgiveness. You can watch a YouTube video of a celebrity recommending not to forgive or forget, and another saying to forgive the unthinkable and recommending forgiveness as the...

Continue reading →

Words of Hope: Pageantry or Practice?

One of my dad’s favorite mentors was a man named Paul Nakai. Paul did so much to elevate our understanding of relational health. He taught us to recognize the often obscured signs of bitterness, blame, or lack of self-responsibility...

Continue reading →