The question was part rhetorical and part inquisitive: “Why are you here?” I was in my second year of college and the exchanged happened because of my asking for an extension on a paper, due to a volleyball tournament on my schedule. I was a bit shocked by the bold retort of my English teacher. I expected her to understand that there was more to life than her class, be gracious and let me off the hook. She didn’t. She jolted me with an existential question that haunts so many of us on a daily basis. The simple answer was “I’m here to go to college, learn and graduate.” But the bigger life answer is much more elusive. And while I still wrestle with God’s will for my life on a daily basis, I learned something that day that has served me well over the years. Even when I cannot…

As I listened to the radio interview with Cordia Harrington, I was surprised by her tenacity. While trying to get MacDonald’s to allow her to bake buns for the company, she was rejected 33 times. Today The Bun Company, bakes more than a 1,000 buns a minute for McDonalds, KFC, Pepperidge Farms among others and is one of the most dynamic business in Tennessee. I have played that interview in my mind over and over the past few days. I have become convicted of, well, my lack of conviction. After all, how many times do I need to be rejected before I give up? That number is smaller than you might think. The implications of such “sticktuiviness” goes way beyond sales. My concern goes deeper than being rejected by a potential client or not getting the deal that I wanted. My dilemma lies in how willing I am to give…

I have several friends who are single and a lot of our conversations revolve about whom to date and what to look in a wife . While I have made a lot of mistakes over my lifetime, and I mean a lot, I got one of the most important decisions right: I married well. Outside my re-generational faith experience as I accepted Christianity and made peace with Christ’s death on the cross for me, my marriage to Gwen was the most important decision to date. It has impacted every single area of my life in ways I could not have imagined before we were married.  So to my single friends who are looking or dating, here are some thoughts I processed before I asked Gwen to marry me. Does she truly love God? “Christian dating” means more than going out with someone you picked up at church.  People pay lip…

So your life is not necessarily where you wanted it to be right now. Happiness is an elusive feeling that comes and goes with circumstances, and you can’t seem to hold on to it long enough to enjoy it. I hear those sentiments quite often. Many of my conversations give me a glimpse of how difficult to achieve happiness is for most of us. But I think we’re getting it wrong. Circumstantial happiness is by any standard, a fleeting and fickle feeling (sorry about the alliteration and don’t try to say it tree times fast). There has to be a better way to live. Whether you verbalize it or not, how many times have you thought: I would be happy if I had a job more money a wife a better job a house a boyfriend a slimmer figure a newer car six-pack abs better friends a better looking boyfriend…

I never saw it coming. The voice on the other end of the phone said in a frail but determined way: “If God gives me four more weeks of life I will finish this book. I’ve been working on it every day.” My eyes swelled up with tears immediately. The man speaking those words, Billy Hornsby, has been battling an aggressive form of cancer that has now moved into his brain. He’s a good friend, a great leader and one the authors I represent. But he didn’t stop there. He paused and then spoke again, “God has been so good to me and I want to help people to discover the amazing life He can give them. I just need a little more time.” overwhelmed by Billy’s response I had to pull over and try to get myself back together. Just hours before I had a completely different conversation with…

Sarcasm and name-calling were survival skills growing up. If you’re going to make it in my family, you had to be quick, witty, and ruthless or you got “taken down” by a sibling or a parent. In my Brazilian household, you could not afford to be timid or slow. Name-calling for us became a sport during meals where the whole family often created nick-names for friends and even other family members. It was all meant in good fun. Today, I must confess, I have the propensity to do the same thing with people around me–most of whom I see places like the Y but have never formally met. Recently I have become convicted about my labeling. So what’s the problem with labeling people you don’t even know? Well, plenty. Here’s some of the people I see on any given day: Stinky Crazy Guy Angry Doc Skinny Girl Surgery Boy Leather…

Margins. They make reading easier by framing words on a page. Margins in our lives serve to keep our existence from more than a hurried, crowded narrative of our daily attempts of self preservation. But it seems that we keep adding just a little more activity, more goals, more work, more debt, more fun, more stuff until the story of our lives reads like a jumbled mess of words filling every white space on the page of our existence. I’ve been reconsidering my own margins. Here’s what I want: Margin in my schedule. That’s such a struggle. I’m in a season of my life that a lot of the work I have done for decades is finally paying off. That translates in opportunities and those commitments need my time. I’ve worked hard for this and now I’m struggling with it. Without margins on my schedule I can’t find time to…

Most people start well. Most people don’t finish so well. Resolutions fail more than they succeed.  So as we look forward to all the promises and opportunities a new year brings us, we find ourselves out of the gate filled with hope that perhaps this is the year that changes everything. We hope for the break that will come our way, the call back from the right someone, the miraculous intervention from God. These are, after all, the key events in our future that could literally make our year. In my experience, however, it’s not the big break that will make the most difference at the end of the year, but the cumulative effect of everyday choices. As we start this race toward the end of 2011 our decisions more than our resolutions will carry the day and eventually the year. So choose wisely. Choose God. Choose your family. Choose…

Yesterday I panicked like I haven’t panicked in a long, long time. As a matter of fact, I can’t remember feeling so lost and out of sorts like I did at the Orlando airport. Most of the time,  I’m very decisive. When things don’t go as planned, I usually have a plan B or C ready to deploy. But that was not the case yesterday. As I walked away from the Hertz rental car return into the terminal, I realized that my iPhone was not with me. It took me all of 5 minutes to notice it was missing. But it was too late. A worker had already taken it from the rental car and kept it. Suddenly disbelief, loss and sheer terror joined me as I raced across the airport trying to not to lose my flight since I had already lost my life, uh, I mean, my phone.…

The old man was out of control and out of order. His wife was taken to the operating room 30 minutes before she was scheduled and we were not there in time to pray with her before the surgery. Now his angry words echoed through the hospital waiting room for all to hear: “you’re the worst preacher ever. How much do we pay you anyway? Whatever it is, it’s too much.” As I was about to defend my boss and put the old man in his place, Ron reached over and waved me back. He knew that the man was in pain and that his outburst was not about us, but about his fears. A few minutes later the elderly gentleman broke down and began to cry. Ron consoled him as he asked for forgiveness almost immediately. I was 21 years old and I was in my first year of…