courage | Heartstone Journey

What Does A Carpenter Know About Fishing And Hiking?

I love Luke’s telling of the story of the meet up with Jesus and Peter. As we step into the scene down by the Sea of Galilee, we find Jesus preaching in a boat and a band of fishermen tending to their nets. After a long night of fishing these guys’ were cleaning, stretching, drying, rolling up and storing their nets to get ready for another go round. While they were tending to their nets, removing the seaweed and other goodies dredged up from the water, they were listening to what Jesus had to say.

Standing in the boat belonging to Simon (Peter), Jesus asks him to put out a little from the land. Jesus continues teaching.

Peter is working and listening, working and listening.

When Jesus stops speaking, He said to Peter, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Jesus basically says, “Hey Peter, let’s go fishing!”

How do you respond to a question like that?

Where Have All The Men Gone?

The film “Courageous” inspired men to commit themselves to their God-ordained responsibilities. “The Resolution” is the bold declaration they pledged to live out and hold each other accountable to.

Men: Don not watch if you want to be an “OK” father, husband and friend. Do watch if you want to be challenged to be great. I fall short, we all do, but I keep getting-up with the help of my brothers. It is never about us…

-Jeff Boutin

So I ask you…where have all the men gone?

Men, run the race while you have breath and finish strong! Don’t be complacent. Don’t settle. Strive for greatness. Be better then the status quo.

Are you ready to man up?

Theodore Roosevelt

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never tasted victory or defeat.

#008: How To Build Margin Into Your Life [Podcast]

Had another great conversation on Purposeful Pathways Radio with Caroline Gavin; Christian business coach, speaker, author and radio host. Join our conversation as we walk through places in my book Heartstone: A Journey Out of the Midnight of My Soul and some things I learned from life’s struggles.

Join me as I share how to live courageously from the heart!

Life Is A Beautiful Struggle

A colleague of mine let me borrow ‘Ragamuffin: the true story of Rich Mullins’ and wow did it wreck me in a very positive way.

Here is a quick synopsis from the DVD box:

Ragamuffin is based on the life of Rich Mullins, a musical prodigy who rose to Christian music fame and fortune only to walk away and live on a Navajo reservation. An artistic genius, raised on a tree farm in Indiana by a callous father, Rich wrestled all of his life with the brokenness and crippling insecurity born of his childhood. A lover of Jesus and a rebel in the church, Rich refused to let his struggles with his own darkness tear him away from a God he was determined to love. As he struggled with success in Nashville and depression in Wichita, Rich desired most of all to live a life of honest and reckless faith amidst a culture of religion and conformity.

As I was being drawn into the story with vivid similarities with my own life, minus the music success, I froze as the movie came to the scene where Brennan Manning was sharing a word with a church congregation. I couldn’t hold back the tears as this message went through me like a plow.

Here is that narrative by Brennan Manning…

What Does A Carpenter Know About Fishing And Hiking?

Where Have All The Men Gone?

Theodore Roosevelt

#008: How To Build Margin Into Your Life [Podcast]

Life Is A Beautiful Struggle

Favorite Quotes

Cool Scripture

Never Out Of The Fight!

Resources