Life

Doubt is a regular part of faith.  As strange as it might sound, doubt is God’s way of making us hungry for deeper revelations.  It’s not something we fear; it’s something we explore. Keep in mind, there’s a huge difference between Skeptics vs. Cynics.  Skeptics are people who attempt to remain as intellectually neutral as…

As you can see from blogs part one and part two on rest, healthy Sabbathing requires us to look at a lot of deeper issues in our lives.  It takes six days of preparation to have one true Sabbath.  We must plan ahead.  Rest is not a passive activity.  Quite often, it requires just as much preparation as a…

In part one of “How to have  Great Day Off” we talked about how God designed our bodies to rest.  “Goal Oriented” activities, whether fun or not, cause your body to release stress-hormones.  So, even though your stress may not be work-related, it still has all the same results:  low immune system, lower patience, and all around fatigue. …

  After all of my classes at Bible school and seminary, I never remember taking a class called: “What the heck to do on my day off.”  (In fact, if there was such a class, I think it should be named exactly that.)  And maybe I’m the only person who struggles with this.  But it’s hard…

Over the last year, we’ve all been inundated with commercials for the Twilight movie trilogy. In some ways, it almost feels impossible to talk about dating without talking about Twilight (or at least making fun of it). So, for fun, I thought it might be helpful to answer the question: “What do I do if I’m…

Boy, did I make a lot of dating mistakes!  As many of you heard in part 4 of our series First Comes Love, my wife actually dumped me back in college!  And necessarily so!  I needed a good kick in the butt to grow up. Of course, I love the classic break-up lines:  “You know……

Creativity is an essential component for my job.  From the humor of my book Pharisectomy to creating a fresh sermon series, I’m always looking for inspiration. My closest friends know that I obsess over script writing and music production.  And especially as Substance makes plans to launch into some serious films and albums, I’m extremely protective…

Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how long it takes to start a habit.  Someone told me 19 days, another 21.  But what do studies really say about forming a new habit? A psychologist by the name of Phillipa Lally of the University College London says that it takes a…

If you’ve come to Substance in the last few years, you’ll know that we start out every new year with a season of fasting.  And if you’ve never heard of the spiritual discipline of fasting before, allow me to give you a quick definition: Fasting is a process of abstaining from something for the purpose…

In 2008, 16% of Americans answered yes when asked, “Do you expect any apocalyptic events to happen on December 21st, 2012?”  That’s one out of every eight.  Personally, this would simplify Substance’s Christmas plans as our Christmas services will start blitzing on Dec. 22nd.  And even if you don’t believe this date has any special…