Virtually everyone I know struggles with some level self hatred. It seems like the right thing to do. How else are we going to keep control of ourselves? We have to give ourselves a good “beating” now and then or we will get “the big head.” The problem is that this kind of “self control” doesn’t work. In fact, if anything, the self hatred makes the problem worse. The very thing that we are trying to stop inside of ourselves grows in intensity when we focus our attention

My wife and I spent the weekend ministering at “The Sanctuary” in Ft. Morgan, Colorado. It was renewing in every sense of the word. The church had a vision of being a place of refreshing, certainly for the community, but also for missionaries and pastors. They turned that vision into an “apartment” for people to stay, along with a living area that has a fireplace. They even ordered up a snow storm just to make it perfect for my wife. Well … I’m not sure they had much to d

We take ourselves way too seriously. For me, a recent discovery was just how much of our pain actually comes out of others not responding to us the way we think they should. Especially when others are rejecting the part of us that is our created purpose, it is very painful. The servant needs appreciation. The teacher wants to be heard. The organizer wants to see a change in behavior. The mercy person wants emotional validation. A parallel point is that we expect others