What God Is Teaching Me about Prayer These Days

April 3, 2019

Usually when I sit down to write a blog post, I start with the question “what is God teaching me these days?” I’ve always felt that the purpose of my blog isn’t to TEACH you anything, but rather to SHARE what God is teaching me.

So usually I look for the most interesting lessons to share – practical things that people enjoy reading about like How I Organize My Time and The One Skill You Need to Make Relationships Last and The Word You’ll Never Hear Me Say in Church.

I generally look for topics that are both interesting and lacking in people’s lives.

Today however, I’m writing about a topic that I don’t think you need to hear about. You don’t need to read about it. You don’t need to hear a sermon about it. In fact, when it comes to this particular topic, I’ll bet you already know all the answers and could spit them out without any help from me.

The Messeh Family Night-Time Routine

April 18, 2018

I've been getting lots of questions from parents about how to insert "spiritual time" into their family life. So with that in mind, I'm reposting something I wrote 3 years ago about how we do it in our home. This certainly isn't the only way to have family spiritual time; it's just simply our way and I hope it helps you come up with a system that works for your home/family as well.

What My Kids Learned from our Family Mission Trip

August 19, 2015

I’M BACK! Finally! Thanks be to God! I’m back and so is my family and I am excited to be home! In case you didn’t realize it, I’ve been away for the past two weeks. Our entire family – Marianne, Michael, Lizzie and myself – went on a mission trip to Kenya, serving alongside one of my spiritual fathers and mentors, His Grace Bishop Paul. We spent two weeks serving with the Coptic Mission in Kenya in the capital city of Nairobi and a rural town called Maseno.

And in case you’re wondering how it went...BEST TWO WEEKS FOR OUR FAMILY EVER!

Limitless acceptance with a firm foundation

July 5, 2013

On June 25, 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court made two historic decisions on gay marriage. First, it ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional because it denies benefits to same-sex couples. Second, it denied an appeal to a federal court ruling that struck down California’s Proposition 8, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman.

These decisions on gay marriages are causing many heated emotions to surface. There’s some who are joyful, some apathetic and some furiously angry at this defeat. Is this a call to surrender all our unconditional love for others or is this a wake-up call for introspection? I’m not writing to discuss the details of this ruling or to talk about all the intricacies of how someone becomes homosexual. I would like to present an opportunity to you.

Why I Go to Bed at 8:00

October 10, 2012

A familiar scenario for most people: the alarm clock goes off. You set it early this morning because you have so much to do and you really need to get a head start on the day.

You know the importance of starting your day with some quiet time with God and you’ve seen the fruit of that when you’ve been consistent with it. You also made that resolution to exercise and you really want to get back into shape. Add on top of that the ever-increasing demands of your job and your need to get in early and get some work done before the chaos of the day ensues. Bottom line: YOU NEED TO GET UP EARLY TODAY.

But despite all those reasons, 9 out of 10 times you end up doing the same thing…SNOOZE!

And you continue to hit the snooze button – every 9 minutes if your clock is like mine – the whole time calculating in your head what you can cut out of your morning routine in order to get some more rest (if I don’t eat breakfast I can sleep for another 3.5 minutes). Sound familiar?

Are You As Responsible As You Think You Are?

September 13, 2012

If you’re a parent like me, there’s a word that gets repeated in your home daily. Most children don’t like it very much, but it’s something they need to learn – not just for their own sake, but for the sake of the rest of society. It’s a word that – even though we can’t always agree on its meaning – we all agree on its importance.

What’s the word? RESPONSIBILITY

(cue the high pitched shriek in the background)

responsible: ‘answerable or accountable, as for something within one's power, control, or management’

A child who makes a mistake and owns up to it is not a problem. No matter what the problem is, it can usually be fixed easily once it’s been identified and owned up to. That is what responsibility means.

The problem is when the child makes a mistake and then denies it, or makes excuses or blames others. That child is much less likely to change his behavior, regardless of the consequences. Why? Because he’s never fully taken responsibility for his choices. He sees them as someone else’s fault or the fault of circumstances.

How often do we behave towards God in the very same manner in which we try to teach our kids NOT to behave?

Defining Your Roles in Life

May 11, 2012

Life is about relationships, not accomplishments.

That’s another one of those life changing sentences that I read several years ago that changed me and really helped me get my life in focus. I am about as “Type A” a personality as you can find. I am hard-working. I am driven. I take initiative and I take pride in getting the job done.

But one of the flaws that come with such a personality (one of the FEW flaws let me add) is that I tend to focus more on accomplishments at the expense of relationships. I am not a relational person by nature. But one of the things that I’ve learned over the years is that when you get to the end of your life – see yesterday’s post if you didn’t already – it isn’t about accomplishments. It’s about relationships.

SPIRITUAL GROWTH | PERSONAL GROWTH | RELATIONSHIPS | ENCOURAGEMENT | STSA Church | GUEST POSTS

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