His bald head shined like a freshly buffed bowling ball covered in beads of fresh morning dew.

I have become fascinated with God's seeming silence. We see it repeatedly in the Bible: God seems to disappear from the narrative entirely, and things run amok.

I hated church camp. I have always been a weirdo who liked to go to bed at a decent time and wake up early, even in my teen years.

There are three distinct parts of a sermon; without them, you just have a talk. The first is the focus, the second is the function, and lastly, the form. Thomas Long wrote about these in his book The Witness of Preaching, and they are essential to building a meaningful sermon. Each week, you should be able to articulate the focus and function before you begin to write the sermon.

The Jewish people celebrate Sabbath on Friday night through Saturday. Sabbath was the command and practice given to us by the LORD, the God of Israel. Sabbath literally means to stop. It is considered, by many, the defining spiritual discipline of the Jewish people.

Are you a pastor struggling week in and out to creatively say something true? Are you feeling stuck and uninspired about the text?

Anna Carter Florence said recently that she feels like a marriage counselor sometimes. She pushes pastors and teachers to fall in love with the text again. For marriage counseling to be successful, it takes some discipline. A marriage counselor will give you some strategies to reignite the passion and spark in your relationship, but they will take work and consistency.

The temperature was only a degree or two different, but the transformation felt like a chasm had formed between then and now. It hung there, shining like a beacon. An amber leaf dancing as it descended to the earth was confirmation. The change was more than a fanciful flutter in my gut. Now, it was empirically verified. Fall had begun, and I barely noticed.

My lungs are burning; every inhalation feels like it is filled with floating cinders from a dying fire. These legs are as stable as a pile of poorly folded towels. I am tired. These runs seem to get longer every week, and my stamina does not seem to be keeping pace with the training regimen. The inner critic is louder in these moments. You are slow; you are not a runner; you never finish anything; you are old and fat. Hands clasped on my head, I am now reconsidering all my life decisions.

It was as if the rock had materialized from the ether. It grabbed my foot and threw me into a cartoonish slo-mo crash to the ground. My palms absorbed the bulk of the fall. My pride was the only injury…

The cold crept up my arms like ivy up the side of an old, tired, forgotten house. It effortlessly got under the loose, hanging long sleeves that I had thrown on earlier. The crew at the trailhead is small. It is only Thomas, myself, and a biker that I have not met. Thomas asked, “What are you training for?” The implication is that no one in their right mind would come out to the woods at 5 a.m., strap a light onto their head, and run around just for fun. I could not agree more!

I wrote that sermon in 30 minutes. The points, structure, and transitions were almost divined from the coffee grounds in my cup. The congregation had never been so engaged as when I was working through my conclusion. It was as if they were hanging on the words, anticipating the next move.

My legs felt like someone had poured an entire concrete truck’s heavy slurry into them. The concrete sludge made gravity’s hold on me stronger than normal. Every excuse imaginable was creeping into my mind. If there was ever a legitimate day not to stick to the training plan, it was today. But I was meeting my friend at the trailhead in thirty minutes. Shorts, shoes, water, and external motivation, let’s go!

Cross-training is a weird concept. The logic is that when you are training to do something, doing a completely different activity part of the time can be beneficial. How?!?! It is proven that it works. If you are training to run a marathon, swimming helps. If you are training to race motorcycles, running helps. The cross-training principle applies to more than just physical training. Artists utilize it too. Actors often play music or paint to stretch their creative muscles.

As the sun's rays extended like fingers, they tore away the heavy darkness that loomed over the path, despite the headlamp's best efforts to illuminate the black abyss ahead. Running through the woods at night is a unique experience, with constant jump scares from noises, rustling in the woods, peering eyes, and spider webs stretching across the trail. But, when you turn a corner and see the sun peeking over the horizon, the first glimmer of light fills you with assurance that it will be a good day.

Have you ever preached a flat, uninspired sermon that did not connect with people? Monday, pastors reflect on the sermon that we preached the day before. I often try to reconstruct how I prepped for those rough sermons and avoid replicating them! I have found these three tips very helpful in preventing a flat sermon.

I got lost today. I have been running trails over the last few weeks. Today I chose a new one. The plan was to run out for two miles, turn around, and come back, no map necessary. I ran past the map without a second thought. Left at the fork, right at the bridge. Eventually, I lost track of my path. At mile 5 of a 4-mile run, it settled in that I was lost.

We had been married less than a year when we bought a 100-year-old house to remodel. The main issue was that the home was sinking. Someone had installed tile in a bathroom by pouring a cement slab between the floor joists. It was so heavy that it was pulling the house down. When we finished this demolition project, I was in the basement staring up through the floor joists at a disheartened Katie balling. She could not see how to move forward, I could not see how to move forward either.

Some folks would call my Granny and Pawpaw gardeners, but I would call them soil makers. Granny is a soft touch on the hand that gives you a sense of comfort and peace. Pawpaw is a bear hug that takes your breath, but in a good way. These two have been making soil together long before I was a shoot fighting for light in the garden.

The couch was scratchy and is surely some sort of polyester blend designed to be durable. The fabric pattern was distinct, but not in an artistic way, just interesting enough for it to be nonconfrontational. The walls were some hue of taupe that had about the same effect. The room was interesting enough to not be interesting. “Have you ever been diagnosed with ADD?”

The night was so dark that you could get lost in your own mind. The water was rough, pushing us out deeper than we wanted to be.