And even though Jesus was God’s Son, he had to learn from experience what it was like to obey when obeying meant suffering. Hebrews 5:8 (TLB) If Jesus, who was God’s perfect Son, had hard lessons to learn through obedience then we shouldn’t be surprised when we find it hard to do the right thing.  I’m writing this during the season of Lent. Part of Lent is making sacrifices. Essentially, we’re asked to join in Jesus’s sufferings.   Whether you give up something or choose to do something positive during Lent, it likely includes sacrifice…giving up some of your time, denying your ..read more

If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement. Anyone who encourages such people becomes a partner in their evil work. 2 John 1:10-11 (NLT) Who will you invite in? Do you regularly open your door to a stranger and allow him or her to come into your house and start telling you how to live, what to eat and drink, how to organize your home, what to spend your money on, etc.? If you’re like me, you wouldn’t dare. However, I’ve invited a stranger into my life when I signed up for diet plans creat ..read more

Are you a happy person? What do you project when you’re at the gym? If you’re like me, I put my headphones on and go into beast mode.  I think I am happy but am I really?  Does it matter? This month I want to share the idea that happiness matters.  February is a month where there is a lot of focus on mental health. I’m participating in a push up challenge to bring focus to the issue of men’s mental health and suicide rate.  The Bible tells us: “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22).  The reality is we are whole being ..read more

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17 (NKJV) What messages are you listening to? Who are you listening to? We live in the information age. There is noise all around us. We are bombarded with information from radio to television to social media. Information is at our fingertips. Family, friends, and co-workers add to the noise. Everyone has an opinion about everything. There is nothing wrong with this. Some of the information and opinions are helpful.  But, are you listening to messages that strengthen your faith? Do you turn off the sound when it is ..read more

We love him, because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 Love. Before we ever loved Him, He loved us.  Before my husband and I got together, I remember someone telling me that a certain man was interested in me. At first they didn’t say who, and honestly, I had no clue who it could be. It took forever for me to realize that it was the man who eventually became my husband. I came to find out, he had his eye on me long before I acknowledged him.  Jesus loves you.  He’s had His eye on you since before you were born. He knows you. And He loves you just as you are. He’s watching from afa ..read more

I’ve been thinking a lot about Christmas lately. Not surprising, right? But it’s moved in a more specific direction. What’s been on my mind is the Nativity or the birth of Jesus.  I’ve been thinking how crazy it sounds that God, the creator of all things, would be born as a baby, to a virgin, in a place like Bethlehem, fully man and fully God. Is it just me or does that sound crazy? I think it does despite it being true. Let me explain how I got to this point. The reality of struggles The last few months I’ve been struggling with a number of things in my life including a couple of nagging ..read more

My blog is focused on the innovative Garage Gym Church construct being pioneered between Faith & Fitness Magazine and Freedom Fitness America. I integrate physical fitness with spiritual, mental, and social fitness training based on lessons learned in implementing this approach inside the military community. Through 16+ years of active duty US Marine Corps service I’ve supported chaplains and non-profit organizations in new concepts of spiritual and mental toughness lifestyle training for military professionals. Along with that I developed options for Christian outreach and training c ..read more

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3 Hope. Hope has come as Jesus. We’re at the time of year when it’s a bit “more acceptable” to talk about faith, hope, and love. People expect to hear m ..read more

My blog is focused on the innovative Garage Gym Church construct being pioneered between Faith & Fitness Magazine and Freedom Fitness America. I integrate physical fitness with spiritual, mental, and social fitness training based on lessons learned in implementing this approach inside the military community. Through 16+ years of active duty US Marine Corps service I’ve supported chaplains and non-profit organizations in new concepts of spiritual and mental toughness lifestyle training for military professionals. Along with that I developed options for Christian outreach and training c ..read more

This is going to be a bit of a shorter article this month but one that makes up for it by packing more of a punch. Hope is a precious commodity and one that is becoming in shorter supply these days.  Former Olympic athlete and World War 2 pilot Louie Zamperini spent 2 ½ years being tortured in a Japanese POW camp.  He said even in the worst of situations ““a part of you still believes you can fight and survive no matter what your mind knows. It’s not so strange. Where there’s still life, there’s still hope.”  That is hope lived out. A hope that transforms lives I recently saw th ..read more