When Faith Becomes About Performance There are a lot of people living in what could be called performance-based Christianity. It’s the belief—often unspoken—that your relationship with God rises and falls on how well you perform. Do the right things. Avoid the wrong things. Stay disciplined. Look the part. And over time, without even realizing it,…
The past week or so I’ve been re-listening to one of my favorite books. I initially read this a few years ago when I was in a men’s group, where we read and reported on one book per month for nearly a year. The title of the book is The Cure – What If God…
“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up,…
When I was a kid, my parents were not church-goers nor did they every speak of or teach us anything Biblical or spiritual at all. When I was seven years old, my dad made the decision to leave our family and divorce my mom. That turned into a single mom trying to raise me and…
In earlier articles in this series where I’ve been examining a Christian view of narcissism, I spoke of the connection between unmet childhood emotional needs and the propensity toward narcissism. Based on my deep understanding of the core elements of human temperament, I am confident that each characteristic that society calls “a narcissist” is entirely…
We live in a fast-paced world with more things pulling us all directions than ever before. Maybe you’re one of those people or couples who keep saying, “We have to make time to get some counseling.” Yet, that time never comes. “We’re just too busy.” As our online client base continues to grow, we’ve seen…
I’m going to focus my next three articles on unpacking the three important days from Black Friday to Easter Sunday. I have found that many Christians’ aren’t really aware of the spiritual meaning. But even the most simple-minded of Christians will have their faith strengthened to understand a little more than that. I’ve chosen to…
A few days ago I blogged about my greatest disappointment in men. In today’s article, I want to continue to share about my frustrations categorically with men. But this time, not from the vantage point of what they do that is hurtful to others. I’ll be describing where men drop the ball in marriage, parenting,…
When seeking something new and foreign to us, we all have some sense of hesitation — at least until we understand more about what we’re moving into. This is often a concern for many people when it comes to seeking Christ-centered counseling. I’ve made a mental note over the years about people’s most common reasons…
Prior to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, our counselors met virtually with roughly twenty percent of our clients. While our doors were closed during the worst of the pandemic, we obviously met with every client online. Notwithstanding, the number of clients we met with each week steeply declined. As things in America began to open up,…