Podcasts + Posts

In this episode of the podcast I want to tell you about something we just did with our kids, something that applies to me and to you… 

There’s a great passage tucked in the end of Proverbs that’s often misquoted. 

Solomon writes, “Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18).  

A lot of well-intended leaders use this to endorse their grandiose plans- “God wants us to have big vision,” they say. “He says so right here, so we’re going to build a bigger building.”

That’s usually how it goes, anyway. This verse is used for church building programs more than just about any other use I can fathom… 

And, though it’s true that we often dream and plan too small- particularly given the fact that our God is the Creator of the still-expanding universe (meaning, He is STILL creating), the word vision here doesn’t mean “big plans.”

The word vision here (in Hebrew- the...

I've looked throughout the Bible to try and find a "formula" for faith and healing. I've discovered that, well... you can't find one.

(Listen to the podcast talk at https://www.overflowfaith.com/blog/07 for more)

A lot of people think that you've got to have complete faith in order for God to bless you- and that if you don't then somehow He's restrained until you "get your faith up." Now, sure, belief makes things better. It gives you more stability... a foundation.

But there's no "one-sized" fits all formula for faith in the Bible. I've looked. Over and over. It's just not there...

Get this: Jesus healed people who had no faith- people who didn't even know who He was! (For instance, the man He healed at the Pool of Bethesda, in John 5.)

Jesus also healed people with "partial" faith, like the guy who exclaimed, "I believe- help my unbelief!" when his son was being tormented by a demon (Mark 9:24). And like the lepers who said, "If you're willing..." (Matthew 8:2).

...

We tend to count and measure the things that matter the most. It's why we count our money and balance the checkbook at the end of the month. It's why I track our business numbers just about every single day. It's why we count our kids when we get in the car.

Sometime, really, ask me about the time that Cristy drove off and left one of our kids in the house... A few blocks down the street, she turns from the driver's seat and asks the others, "Hey, where's Judah!?"

Full disclosure: I made fun of her...

... until I did the exact same thing.

I can't give you the inside scoop on her story. Here's mine: I left the school one afternoon, cruised about a mile away in the 12-pac van we drive.

The car seemed about 15-20% quieter than normal. I scanned the rearview mirror while cruising down the street at an ever-decreasing speed, knowing something wasn't quite the way it was supposed to be...

"Levi's still at school!" one of the boys exclaimed.

They said it, right as I felt it. I had,...

In a previous post I talked about what happens when you lose your “why” (https://www.overflowfaith.com/blog/losingwhy ). The short version… 

If you don’t stay in touch with your heart, then the INSPIRATION (which is what SHOULD drive you) gets eclipsed by the IMPLEMENTATION strategy (which should never drive you). 

Here’s what’s wrong with getting it backwards: the “thing” you choose to do can never be about HOW you do it…  

For example- 

• Dating your spouse is NEVER about going out to eat at a nice restaurant, watching a certain movie… relaxing as you walk through the park… or sitting quietly by a fire. Those are all HOWs…
• Dating IS about connecting with your spouse.

And- 

• Spending time with your kids is NEVER about tossing a baseball, watching a series of Christmas movies every night of the holidays (one of our kids’ favs), or making s’mores in the backyard....

We tend to compartmentalize our lives. We think that some things are “holy” and some things aren’t. Some tasks are important… and others… well… they don’t matter as much. 

The Bible tells us, “Jesus grew in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).  

Notice, He grew relationally, He grew physically, and He grew in terms of practical knowledge. Each of these areas was part of God’s plan for His life… 

Again, we tend to separate the spiritual from the "real." But these aren't disconnected ideas. This means that- 

• Healthy relationships are part of a stout spiritual life
• Healthy choices with your physical body are… well… they’re spiritual issues, too, right
• Healthy perspectives on the world around us… practical wisdom… also a spiritual issue.

In other words, everything is spiritual. Everything is being redeemed. 

Who are the...

I always thought Jesus was just comparing what He tells us to seek, as opposed to what most people seek- we seek the Kingdom; they seek stuff. Remarkably, though, it's not just the “object" of that search which He’s suggesting should be different; it's also the manner of “seeking.”

Follow me for a second... 

I’ve learned that one of the biggest hindrances to walking with a healthy soul is striving, straining, and seeking to achieve things in our own strength. That is, it’s not just “doing bad” things that knock us off course. Many times, we can do “good,” but do it from a sense of obligation instead of overflow… 

There’s a great line in the Sermon on the Mount that speaks to this…

Matthew records Jesus’ admonition: “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). 

He tells us that if we do this- if we seek His Kingdom first AND seek HIs...

We’re all busy. It’s almost a #HumbleBrag in our culture to actually BE busy. I mean, no one actually LIKES being so busy that they can’t keep up with what’s going on, but we carry our jam-packed calendars around like badges of honor. 

That can be a HUGE problem with it comes to pursuing your dreams. 

You see, dreams require time. Concentrated, high-octane time. Some of your “best” time. And your energy. And your focus. 

At the Advance, we actually use juggling as an example to illustrate this. It never fails. Whenever we call someone onstage and let them start juggling, whenever they juggle beyond their capacity, they don’t just lose the last ball that was added… they drop them all. 

You can make the correlation. Less is better. Less is actually “more.”

“More” just… well… it causes the entire thing to fall apart. It creates anxiety, it causes your skill level to actually...

The first step in living any dream is to decide what that dream is. Sounds obvious, right?  I mean, how are you going to go ANYWHERE if you don’t first have a destination?

Cristy and I go on a date every week. Sometimes, we get into this debacle… perhaps you’ve been there: 

“Where do you want to eat?”

“I don’t know. Where do you want to go?”

Suggestion made. 

Reply = “Anything but that!”

Been there? Done that? (This works both ways- sometimes she makes the turned-down suggestion; others times I do it!)

It’s frustrating, isn’t it? It kinda stalls out the first part of the evening.  

And, the truth is that this kind of thing can keep you stalled out in life, too. 

Solomon wrote, “Where there is no vision the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). They lose heart. They grow faint and weary. They find themselves hopeless. They find themselves in despair. 

In this episode...

In session 6 at The Advance, we talk through the power of relationships. One of the biggest takeaways is this: every significant turning point in your life- good or bad- is probably marked more by a PERSON that it is a PLACE. That is, we rarely make decisions “in a vacuum.” We’re far more influenced by the people around us than any other thing. 

It’s why we read observations- and coaching statements- in the Book of Proverbs like, “He who walks with the wise will be wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm” (13:20). 

And- “A man who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin” (Proverbs 18:24). 

Quite simply, our “inner circle” in some significant sense determines our destiny. 

Show me your friends, and I'll show you... 

I had a youth minister who regularly said something like this: “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.”

Most of us are old enough now to...

I worked in churches and nonprofits for the better part of the past 20 years. Before that, I interned, volunteered, and worked part-time with church youth groups. As a result, I’ve preached a TON of sermons and taught a LOT of lessons. 

Some were excellent- a lot of them were junk (just being honest!). 

I say that because I had the distinct advantage, I think, of working on the craft WHILE I was on the job. I got to “earn and learn” at the same time. And, to be blunt about it, speaking in public is a lot like swimming. You can read books about it, you can listen and learn some great tips on what to do, and you can watch others do it themselves. However, at some point, you’ve got to just jump in and go for it yourself. The only way to really learn to swim is to swim; the only way to learn how to speak is to speak. 

I can usually tell when someone is new to the craft. They do what I did for the first few years I was speaking… 

* They...