All Blog Posts Tagged 'encouragement' (18)

The Process of Discipline

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

Yesterday, my youngest son and my daughter continued to have “issues” with one another, which primarily revolved around sharing and kindness. My son didn’t want my daughter in his room, so his solution was to send our friend’s 3 year old daughter to tell my wife that my daughter was being a “brat.” At the same time, I hear my daughter saying: “Please give me another chance and don’t tell mom.” Needless to say the situation was getting… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on August 3, 2009 at 8:50am — No Comments

The Endorsement of Your Life

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

Over the weekend, the most famous pitchman in America passed away. Billy Mays was the king of infomercials, having made a name for himself by passionately extolling the virtues of numerous household products. Before any of us knew Billy’s name we knew him by the products he represented. We would often refer to him as the Oxi-Clean guy or the Mighty Putty guy. We knew Billy, not for who he was, but instead what he represented. Billy knew… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on June 29, 2009 at 8:42am — No Comments

The Value of Understanding

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to visit the Kitale Museum in Kitale, Kenya. The Kitale Museum has exhibits that teach about the cultural heritage and natural eco-system of this region of Kenya. The true blessing of this visit to the museum came from the instruction of my tour guide, Andrew. Andrew allowed me not just to see the exhibits and learn, but he provided me with understanding as well.

For example as we toured… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on June 15, 2009 at 8:56am — No Comments

In Hot Pursuit

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

In our home we have 2 cats, “Max and Smokey” and a German Shepherd named “Seth.” One of the daily happenings in our house revolves around these 3 animals. At least once every day we will observe Seth chasing one of the two cats around the house. Seth pursues them from room to room until he finally gets them cornered. Once he has them cornered he sniffs, licks and playfully nips at them, but truly he isn’t sure why he chased them in the… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on June 8, 2009 at 7:08am — No Comments

Get Out of the Penalty Box

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

The past two evenings I watched the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals. One of the unique features of ice hockey is the power play. A power play occurs when the member of one team commits a penalty. When a penalty is committed, the officials levy a 2 minute or 5 minute penalty against the offending team. During this time, the penalized team is required to play with fewer players on the ice than their opponent.

During the power… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on June 1, 2009 at 7:58am — No Comments

Making Preparation

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

This morning I find myself in the final hours of preparation before I leave on a mission trip to Africa. Even though there is a flurry of preparatory activity, my preparations have actually been ongoing for a few months now. It is the preparations for the journey that make the journey possible.

Joshua 1:11 (NASB)

“Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, ‘ Prepare provisions for yourselves,… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on May 4, 2009 at 8:21am — No Comments

When Expectancy becomes Expectation

Good morning! This edition of the Monday Morning Encouragement is coming to you a few days late, but I’m sure you might find this just as encouraging on a Wednesday morning.

Over the past few days I have been finishing out a series of prayer retreats that I started last year. The purpose of this retreat was to spend an extended amount of time in silence and solitude in the presence of God.

As I entered into this time, my mind was preoccupied with the many things that are… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on April 28, 2009 at 7:29pm — No Comments

Don't Forget the Cheese

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

This weekend our church came together to serve another church. The church we were assisting has a ministry to the homeless and less fortunate in our area. Every Sunday this church meets under a large tent in a vacant lot and serves up Biblical truth, followed by a warm meal.

This weekend it was our turn to prepare the meal, so our leadership decided that these folks were probably sick of spaghetti, so we decided to make chili… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on April 19, 2009 at 8:34pm — 1 Comment

Conference on the Mound

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

This afternoon I had the opportunity to take in a minor league baseball game. I love going to baseball games, but I especially love minor league games, because the players are playing for the chance to pursue a dream. They give it their best in the hopes that someone in their major league parent organization will notice them.

One of my favorite things to watch in a baseball game is the strength and resiliency that is… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on April 12, 2009 at 8:28pm — No Comments

Into the Fire

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

There are times in life that we find ourselves captive to our circumstances. We can see the peril ahead of us, but deliverance doesn’t come. Maybe you’ve been there, praying for a way out, but instead you find yourself headed straight towards the thing that is going to ruin your life.

The Biblical account of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego fits this profile:

Daniel 3:19-27 (NASB)

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on April 5, 2009 at 7:07pm — No Comments

At the end of belief

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

As we go through life, we at times encounter places where our faith is stretched beyond its limits. These are the crossroads and crisis times where our trust in God’s ability to deliver us seems to be less than sufficient. These are the hours of desperation in which a person gropes for even the dimmest ray of hope to enter the picture.

Scripture gives us a picture of a father who was at this point. Mark chapter 9 describes the… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on March 30, 2009 at 11:02am — No Comments

Getting Rid of Stinking Thinking

Good morning. I hope you had a great weekend.

How many of your have ever heard the term “stinking thinking?” This is a description of allowing your thoughts to become completely negative about everything. These thoughts may be inwardly focused thoughts of failure or not being quite good enough or they could be outwardly focused thoughts of criticism and judgment towards other people or circumstances.

Have you ever noticed that when you are around negative people it becomes… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on March 15, 2009 at 3:21pm — No Comments

When All Becomes New

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

This past Thursday my co-pastor and his wife welcomed their second child into the world. It has been 7+ years since we last had a baby in our lives, so it has been fun watching the commotion around this little fellow. Eyes opening slowly to look around, fingers curling and uncurling, legs extending and bending all displaying the newness of life.

This got me to reflecting on one of my favorite descriptions of life in… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on March 1, 2009 at 9:04pm — No Comments

Trusting Without Understanding

For the last few months Carol and I have been looking for a new place to live. Each time we thought we had our answer we would go down that trail, only to find a dead end. As the clock counted down to our moving day this coming weekend, we found our stress level getting a little higher with each new day. As we would pray over our housing situation, the Lord seemed to always lead us back to these two verses:

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NASB)

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And do… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on January 26, 2009 at 8:09am — 2 Comments

Examining Your Foundation

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

This past week I spent some time with a man who is both a friend and trusted advisor. He has taken a great interest in my work over the past 18 months, but has taken particular interest in the church planting ministry that I launched in November. As we were talking, he addressed with me his concern over my foundation. As I probed into his statement, he accurately assessed that I was beginning to rapidly put together a structure, but my… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on December 14, 2008 at 11:38pm — No Comments

Under Your Nose

Good morning! I hope that you had a refreshing weekend.

I meet with a friend of mine every Thursday for lunch. During our time we talk about life and he allows me to challenge him in his Christian walk. Often times I am the one getting challenged as we dialogue back and forth. This week was no exception, as our dialogue helped me to see an opportunity right in front of my nose.

Two weeks I ago I began a new ministry called Simplicity. The basic concept of Simplicity is to… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on November 17, 2008 at 8:51am — No Comments

Grounded in Faithfulness

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

This past week we finally brought the 2008 election process to a close. Over the past 20 months we have heard candidates making pledges and promises on a wide variety of issues ranging from the economy to the Iraq war. Unfortunately, every campaign season brings promises that for the most part will never be realized.

The weakness of a campaign promise is the ability of the candidate to bring it to fruition. A politician is… Continue

Added by Carl Willis on November 10, 2008 at 8:23am — No Comments

God loves you (by Alan Knox)

Alan Knox (here on simplechurch.com) has once again expressed well a message that really gets to the heart of all we are trying to be. Thanks Alan.

---------------------

I have a message for all brothers and sisters in Christ...

To those who did not want to paste a fake smile on your face and act like everything is fine... God loves you!

To those who did not sign up to help in the… Continue

Added by Guy Muse on September 14, 2008 at 8:13pm — 2 Comments