Living Above The Norm

Recently, in a discussion with another Pastor about some of the more difficult areas of the Bible (difficult as in hard to interpret), I heard a phrase that has had me thinking:
“Instead of letting what you haven’t experienced and your current understanding about what the Bible says define what you can experience, there might be [...]

Needless to say, it’s been a crazy few months.  With the addition of my son to our family back in August, our schedules have been completely turned up-side-down.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my new schedule and the numerous opportunities throughout my day to spend playing with my now 12-week old son are precious [...]

Kathryn at Million Dollar Journey wrote an interesting article comparing the most common types of budgets.  I’ll save you the recap, just make the jump to her link above to see the differences.
What she did write that caught my eye was her comparison of budgeting to diets.  She writes, “Only you know yourself well enough [...]

Procrastination can be a tough thing to overcome, especially when it comes to our spiritual life.  After all, we have time to fix that, right?  Or better yet, “I’ve got some other things I need to get right before I deal with that.“  What’s worse is that often times when we do start to address [...]

I recently came across a pretty cool site, Someone Once Told Me So.  Every day, give or take, they post a picture of someone holding a quote.  The premise is this, “Someone once told me… [then they fill in the blank]“.  I’ve subscribed to the RSS feed so I don’t have to keep going back [...]

Willow Creek’s founding and senior pastor Bill Hybels once said, “The local church is the hope of the world, and its future rests primarily in the hands of its leaders.” I couldn’t agree more. I believe that idea could be restated this way: the world depends on the participation of the local church [...]

In a country full of self-made men and home grown businesses, how is it that some people are at the top of their game – giants in their areas, while others are not? There has to be something unfair about the American dream. Do some people just have what it takes while the rest of us have to live with what we have? Here’s how I develop mentors and relationships to help me develop myself as a leader.

Ever known someone who argued with you over a new idea or way of doing things, only to find out you were right – and now all of a sudden they act like it was their idea and “what they were saying all along”?  Yeah, me too.  Consider this my “I told you so.”  The [...]

Maybe I’m just wired this way.
I can remember bringing my broken toys to my dad (he can fix anything).  On one occasion I must have been particularly distraught.  I remember him telling me this, “Son, if a man made it, a man can fix it.”  I remember being challenged by that.  I carried it into [...]

I’ve been amazed at the success of Living Above The Norm. You guys are great. The site views, Tweets, ReTweets, Subscriptions, and acknowledgments have all exceeded my expectations. What started as an expression of my heart and desire to teach coupled with my fascination of people, relationships, and technology has really become [...]