Reader, When I first developed the Living with Heart program, I didn't think of it as a potential tool for couples. Did I believe that people's marriages would be impacted if they went through this program? Absolutely, and the feedback has consistently proven that belief. I just considered it to be a program for individuals. In fact, this mindset was so strong that Plumline's policy initially prohibited couples from attending the same group. But over the years, people kept asking me if they...
18 days ago • 1 min read
Reader, How well do you know your soul? If you're like many modern Christians, the word "soul" feels abstract and ethereal. You know you have one, but you're not quite sure what—let alone where!—it is. But what if I told you that your soul, when healthy, is perhaps the most grounded part of your spiritual makeup? Would you believe me? As a refresher, we're in the middle of a series about the four parts of our spiritual anatomy and the characters that can help us better understand what's going...
25 days ago • 2 min read
Reader, Last week, I introduced the characters that describe the 4 parts of our spiritual anatomy. If you need a refresher: The heart part of you is a Loving Companion The soul part of you is a Visionary Guide The mind part of you is a Strategic Overseer The strength part of you is a Driven Warrior In my years of doing this work, I've noticed a common tendency: people often tell me, "I don't have this one or that one." But that is a false assumption. You have them all, though some may be...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Reader, We spend a lot of time looking for things that will make us feel complete. This search drives us to read widely, to follow gurus on Instagram, to collect experience after experience. Along the way we learn things. Good things, even! And yet, that hunger for meaning doesn't go away. Just like that U2 song, we still haven't found what we're looking for. If any of that resonates, you might believe that you'll never find what you need. That you'll always feel incomplete. But it doesn't...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Reader, Over the past few weeks, we've explored a different way of looking at Jesus' Parable of the Sower. I've been inviting you to consider the types of soil Jesus describes and ask yourself, "What type of soil is in my heart right now?" The first three types of soil are not healthy: The soil of a hard heart, which cannot receive God's healing The soil of a shallow heart, which cannot sustain discomfort and difficulty The soil of a divided heart, which cannot separate the cares of this...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Reader, For the last few weeks, we've been exploring the Parable of the Sower, sitting with the question, "What kind of soil is in my heart right now?" As I've said before, this parable is not primarily describing the reasons unbelievers refuse to hear the Gospel. Rather, in this little story Jesus is inviting us to a life of constantly paying attention to our own hearts. The truth is that sometimes our hearts are hard and other times our hearts are shallow – even after we give our lives to...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Reader, What kind of soil is in your heart right now? That's the question driving my current series on the Parable of the Sower. Many Christians — myself included — were taught that this parable is all about unbelievers. In this understanding the different types of soils describe the different reasons unbelievers cannot truly hear or receive the Gospel. But as I've explained, that's actually not what Jesus is trying to teach us here. Rather, he's inviting us to constantly pay attention to the...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Reader, If you (like me) grew up in the church, you're probably familiar with the Parable of the Sower: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Reader, Sometimes when I ask people how they are doing, they respond by saying, “I’m crushing it.” They are not wrong. Driven forward by The Smothering Grind, they are crushing the life out of their lives. I've written about how The Grind pushes us into burnout, flame out, and tapping out. Now it's time to talk about how to silence his villainous lies so we can become who we truly are and live the lives God created us for. If you (like me) grew up in the church, you probably remember being...
2 months ago • 2 min read