by Sam | Mar 26, 2015 | Inspiration, Reflection
In one of the most exciting and competitive NBA seasons of late, the Golden State Warriors have the best record this year. They are a fun team to watch on both ends of the court. Offensively and defensively, this team has excelled and their team chemistry has been noted throughout the media. While superstar Steph Curry might grab most of the headlines, what stands out the most to me is that they are led by a first year coach in Steve Kerr. It is remarkable what Coach Kerr has done, and is rightfully one of the leading candidates to be coach of the year. He took an already good team, and took them to the next level in just his first year of coaching ever! The Warriors aren’t just the best team in the league this season, but statistically, one for the ages. How does a rookie coach succeed so quickly? While there are many reasons, I think one thing that can’t be overlooked is the fact that while as a player himself, Kerr, played for 2 of the greatest head coaches of all-time. Under the tutelage of Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich, Steve Kerr won multiple championships, first with the Chicago Bulls and then with San Antonio Spurs. Kerr also played with some of the best players ever in Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Tim Duncan to just name a few. One cannot be around excellence and hard work, and not learn the ins and outs of the game. I am sure as a player, Steve Kerr saw how the best did it day after day. Who we surround ourselves with affects us...
by Sam | Mar 4, 2015 | Inspiration, Reflection
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” — 1 Corinthians 13:13 What better feeling is there than love? It’s hard to think of one, if any. I mean love is one of those things that I can spend every minute thinking about. Past loves, loves that didn’t work, the loves that almost was, and the future loves that are to be. Admitted, I am a hopeless romantic, but if everyone is honest, love creeps into almost all fabric of life. The songs we listen to, the movies we watch, and the stories that grip us are saturated with love. Simply put, love is powerful. What other feeling can make us do the crazy things that love does? Yet the thing is, if love is only a feeling, it will always be dependent on our moods or circumstances because all feelings come and go. No matter how powerful, at the end of the day, feelings by nature oscillate. Then can something so fickle, be a virtue? If love only remains a feeling, then it can never be a virtue. Love as a choice, however, is a different story. All virtues must be fought for and lived out on purpose. Love is a virtue when we choose to love. Love is a virtue when we choose it in the face of difficulties, sacrifice, and pain. The same goes with faith and hope. It’s one thing to feel full of faith and hope, and another to choose to believe and hope against all unbelief, hopelessness, and despair. That’s what makes it truly faith, truly hope,...
by Sam | Jan 5, 2015 | Guest Blogger, Inspiration, Reflection
This year is looking full already… more speaking engagements and seminars… lots more personal as well as professional challenges and areas of growth that already stretch into December. It’s exciting for sure, but I can also feel myself almost (almost) going to that place of feeling overwhelmed, mostly because I don’t want to fall into the “busy” trap. Been there. Done that. And it was really. Ugly. In fact, the word actually causes me to have a visceral, physical reaction that makes me cringe and grit my teeth. And I’ve resolved that when someone asks me how I’ve been, to not answer “busy.” Let me explain… “Busy” took a toll on me physically, emotionally, spiritually & mentally. It took the last half of 2014 to just BEGIN to undo the gordian knot of at least 6 years worth of just being “busy” all the time. 6 years ago was when I had begun my MA in Marriage and Family Therapy. We were also two years into developing our church plant and I had given birth to our second daughter somewhere in the midst of all that. (Ironically, these years were also one of the most self-reflective and life changing years of my life) BUT… Busy became my “thing” and I had happily embraced it in the beginning because if I’m honest, it made me feel important. I wore it like a badge and it was how I derived a big sense of my identity: Busy with school, busy with work, busy being a wife, a mom to two young children, a church planter’s wife, a therapist… busy meeting with...
by Sam | Sep 15, 2014 | Frontier, Inspiration
Several months back Marty and his family visited my church, The Sycomore, to preach and minister. Marty gave a powerful word on the Father heart of God. He shared stories of seeing God’s heart in action on the missions field. Afterwards I had the chance to get to know Marty more and was deeply impacted by his life and prayer for me. Since then we have stayed in touch, and it is a tremendous honor to share the Meyer family’s story through Pursuit: Frontier. Share with us who you are and what you do. Kelly and I have been missionaries in Youth With A Mission (YWAM) for nearly 20 years. Ten years ago the Lord lead us to Cascade, Idaho to pioneer a new YWAM base strategically focused on mobilizing and sending missionaries to north India. We are now the leaders of a thriving missionary training center that is equipping pioneers to complete the Great Commission. How did God call you into missions? I (Marty) had been serving as an assistant pastor for eight years and Kelly, a schoolteacher for three. We had the perfect life carved out for ourselves in Pocatello, Idaho. We figured we would spend the rest of our lives there. In a quiet moment with the Lord I ask if He wanted to speak to me personally. The voice I heard said: “Quit your jobs, sell your house and go to a place I will show you.” When I told Kelly about it, she said, “Well, if it’s truly the Lord we will have to obey.” The next day I ask the Lord to confirm that...
by Sam | Sep 5, 2014 | Inspiration
The start of a new school year means that there are also plenty of new faces and opportunities. You would be surprised to know just how much your campus has to offer you. Whether it is your first semester of college or your last, these 3 steps will be sure to help you thrive this coming year in college. 1) BE OPEN College is a great opportunity to learn more about the world around you and the person you are becoming. Don’t be stagnant, but rather go and explore. It might be challenging to go outside of your comfort zone, but an incredible journey always starts with that first step. Be open to taking new classes, joining new clubs, and meeting new people. And not just new people, but people who are actually different than you. Take on a challenge, learn a new skill, take up a new hobby. Be open to being stretched and letting your thoughts and ideas be challenged as well. Only then can you really take ownership of what you believe and why. Be open. 2) BE ROOTED The sky is the limit for you! But you will only go as high as your roots go deep below. Remember where you came from and all those who shaped you to be the person you are today. In college it can be so easy to succumb to peer pressure and just be another face in the crowd. By being rooted though, you won’t be swayed to the left and to the right into who others want you to be. Instead you can be free to be...
by Sam | Jul 31, 2014 | Inspiration, Reflection
Ever have one of those mornings where God is just speaking to you? And throughout the entire day, He just keeps confirming it over and over again through the most random ways? The other day was just like that for me. He was speaking to me that He will never let me down and He will never walk away from me. It was powerful. And that same truth came up as the day progressed. At first it was an encouraging reminder, then it turned into dread. Was God saying this to me because something bad was going to happen? Was He warning me of some unforeseen circumstance that will arise? Was He cluing me in on a time where I would need to clutch onto this? And in that moment I realized something was totally off! Instead of embracing what God has told me, I instantly made it about something bad that was bound to happen. So often my expectations of God and who He is and what He does is “bad”. Not that I believe God is bad, but the way I view life is through the lens of my circumstances and past experiences rather than His goodness. If I say that I believe in a good God and am saved by the Good News of Jesus Christ, then shouldn’t my expectations be good too? The Bible tells us over and over again that He is good and that He only gives good gifts (James 1:17)! Why is believing that so hard for me if I am a “believer”? Instead of saying “uh oh, things are about to...
