This One’s For You

In life, we all have memories on the highlight reel. Some of them are big blockbuster moments of victory, and others are just funny stories that you’ll never forget.  This is one of my favorites.  One Sunday morning, one of my best friends introduced me to his daughter’s new boyfriend. He said something like this.

My Thanksgiving List

Don’t you think that everyone should be required to wait tables at Shoney’s, IHOP, or Waffle House at least once in their lives? Maybe just for a summer, but these and most other food service-related places give opportunities to see people at their best and their worst. Wouldn’t that type of experience change the culture

Next Gen Family

Recently I was listening to a podcast about what the church needed to do to be attractive to this generation of young adults. Listening to their tactical approach to inviting people to God’s house got me thinking about how much my church has been like a family to me.  January marks the 23rd year since

Jello to a Tree

“Should we do it?” Anna asked me. “Should we skip putting up the Thanksgiving decorations and dive right into Christmas?” I was wrestling with a 4-foot inflatable pumpkin when she asked, so it took me a moment to weigh the pros and cons of this monumental decision. Before I waded into the profound long-term consequences

Need A Rescue?

Last week I had the honor of leading a 4000 conference for pastors. It was the biggest event I had ever done, and it wiped me out. This week as I was putting myself back together. The thought I had was I needed a rescue. It reminded me of my great friend Steve Pollock, who

Big God Big Feet

This seems to be a season where my attention keeps getting drawn to how big our God is. You can see it in many of my posts over the past several months. He is way bigger than we can comprehend and yet still chooses to love and want to live with us on such a

His Promise

Are you watching Ted Lasso? No judgment if you are or are not. But the 7-time Emmy Award-winning flagrant cussing comedy finished its second season last week. It ended in ugly betrayal, and without revealing the spoilers, all I can say is the main character was done so dirty, it left me stinging for some

Your Language

A couple of friends and I are going through a small group study called Rooted that Mariners Church in California put together, and there was a particular chapter on how God speaks to us that really stood out. It said that God speaks to us through circumstance, His creation, other people. supernaturally, and often through

What Do You Want?

This week the Shawn-God Red Letter Moments thought train had many stops but ended up pulling into the best station possible. Tuesday morning, I was standing at the coffee maker asking God what He wanted me to talk about in the men’s group that I lead. Most of the time, we have a curriculum to

The Easy Way

Over the last 17 years, I have passed a run-down mobile home park several times a month. The sign at the front entrance always smacks me with irony. It’s called, Easy Way Park, and let me tell you, there is nothing easy about the way there. It’s like my grandmother’s words come to life. “The easy