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Emotionally Healthy Parents Are Connected

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Emotionally Healthy Parents Are Connected

Emotionally Healthy Parents Are Connected

If there was a parenting recovery group at church you would stand up and say, “Hi, my name is Craig and I am a parent.” “Hi Craig,” is the response. I'm not making fun of 12 step groups or recovery groups, what I am saying is, the people in those groups have something that many of us don’t and that is the power of authenticity. Each person is there for one reason, connection.

When one person shares their hurts and hang ups there is no doubt they will hear a “Me Too” response and honestly, that is quite reassuring. It's reassuring to know you are not the ONLY one going through life facing what you are facing

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4 Ways to Stop Your Hurried Pace of Life

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4 Ways to Stop Your Hurried Pace of Life

“Go with the flow!” Have you ever heard those words? The problem is, these days, if we go with the flow we’ll probably drown.

Since the world seems to be stuck in “go,” and sometimes us with it, we need to look at how to stop. With that in mind, here are four “brake-tapping” ways to STOP when the world says go

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Encouraging Words For Broken Leaders

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Encouraging Words For Broken Leaders

I wish I could see everyone reading this BLOG. If I could I would would ask for a show of hands to the question, “Have you ever experienced brokenness?” Some have, some have not. Some may be in the middle of such an experience right now and are wondering where God is.

Brokenness isn’t fun. In fact, in the moment it hurts, it’s painful, it’s exhausting, and it’s unpleasant. However, brokenness is a pathway to becoming a better parent, better leader, better person, if we allow God’s process do it’s work on us, in us and

Feel Like Giving Up?

Feel Like Giving Up?

Have you ever wanted to Give up? Quit? Walk away? Stop? Leave?
Have you ever wanted your day, week, month or year to be over?
Me Too!

Honestly, there have been times when I was trying to crawl my way through the tunnel of difficulty hoping, praying, believing for a light at the end! It’s in those moments I must ask myself the following four questions to just keep going.


Four Questions To Ask Yourself When You Want To Give Up

1. Do I Have Hope?

Sometimes all we have is hope. There is nothing else available. But, when hope is all we have we are reminded that

Responding To Negative Feedback

Responding To Negative Feedback

Have you ever received negative feedback from something you have said or done? I wish I could have all those hours of sleep back that I lost worrying about a comment someone said to me or an email someone had sent me.

Picture this. You have prepared for an event, planned it perfectly and executed it with precision. In fact, on the “Event Evaluation Form” that was handed out you received 10’s across the board from most people and a written note of praise from many of them. There were more than a hundred people confirming your effort, commitment and success of the event.


However...


There is that one comment. You know the one, that one comment that stopped just short of talking about your mom. That comment that

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One Size Fits All Parenting

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One Size Fits All Parenting

We have three kids and we parented them all the same way and guess what, they are all turning out different AND that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. While I think it’s important to have to have an overall and intentional parenting strategy I do believe that one size fits all parenting may not work the way we want it to.


Why One Size Does Not Fit All

Mary and I didn’t try three different parenting “strategies” on our three children. We parented them all with the same philosophy, thoughts and ideas. We had a core set of values that guided our decisions when it came to our kids. When our kids were younger we thought if they broke a rule or value they should all have the same consequence. Guess what, that didn’t work.

Two of our children

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5 Things Every Parent Wants To Hear From Their Kids

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5 Things Every Parent Wants To Hear From Their Kids

Before our boys went back to college last month they had an assignment from their small group leaders. The assignment was to sit down with their parents and ask them three questions. It was the last question that got Mary and I thinking. Here it is…


What can I do to be a better son?


I took the question to mean, “what can I do to show you how important you are to me, how valuable you are to me. Is there anything I can do or say that will communicate that I love you and I am thankful to you.” Okay, maybe I read to much into it but that