I was afraid that if I surrendered my life over to God, God would tell me not to do those things that I desperately wanted to do.

When I was 25, I believed I could change the world. At 41, I have come to the realization that I cannot change my wife, my church, or my kids, to say nothing of the world. Try as I might, I have not been able to manufacture outcomes the way I thought I could, either in my own life or other people's.

I was spending too much time thinking about how I was doing, if I was learning everything I was supposed to be learning during this difficult season, whether I was doing it right or not, taking my spiritual pulse, etc - my inner lawyer was working overtime.

My observation of Christendom is that most of us tend to base our relationship with God on our performance instead of on His grace.

Contrary to what we conclude naturally, the gospel is not too good to be true. It is true! Its the truest truth in the entire universe. No strings attached! No fine print to read. No buts. No conditions. No qualifications. No footnotes. And especially, no need for balance.

The gospel announces that God doesn't relate to us based on our feats for Jesus, but Jesus' feats for us.

A preacher who doesn't believe he's that bad will attract people who don't think they're that bad. And that's bad.