Tag Archives: Passion

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Hugging Your Kids In Public

Godly Men: Being Deliberate With Our Wives and Kids

We had the opportunity to go see a Christmas program by Word Of Life Ministries when we lived in Florida, called Sights & Sounds of Christmas. As a minister of a church in their local area, we actually got to attend the dinner and show for free, and greatly enjoyed the opportunity. 

Sights & Sounds of Christmas

I have a large family, so events like this can quickly become expensive. We are grateful for their generosity while we lived there. It was a wonderful production, and our whole family loved it and had a great time.

We arrived early, since seating was on a first-come basis. As we were waiting, another family walked it and hovered in the lobby, also waiting for the doors to open. They were a nice looking family. But they didn’t really attract my attention at first. Just a father and mother, with four typical kids. The girls were chatting together, and the oldest son, who seemed to be sixteen or seventeen, had ear buds in.

But a few minutes later, I glanced up to see the father and son talking in a corner. This wasn’t any kind of “he’s in trouble” talking, and it don’t look serious. It looked to me like the dad just pulled his son away from the crowd to have a moment together.

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The Four – No Eight – P’s of Dadhood – Passion

Godly Men: Being Deliberate With Our Wives and Kids

Some of the first posts I wrote for Deliberate Dads was a series on the Four P’s of Dadhood, which I soon expanded to eight. These articles discussed four essential qualities of dadhood. The first two are practice and patience. The second two are persistence and perspective.

The Four - No Eight - P's of Dadhood - Passion

Soon after, I came to the conclusion that my list is incomplete. I’ve identified at least four more essential characteristics that it take to be a great dad. The first one from this extension that I want to discuss is so obvious I really don’t know how I could have overlooked it.

It’s a quality that all dads have to have for their kids, if they want to have any type of relationship at all.

It’s crucial.

Passion

As I thought about the idea of passion, I realized that there are really two aspects to this quality of dadhood. Both of these are a part of the idea of passion, and as such, are sort of related. But they are also separate and distinct qualities that every dad needs to hold on to.

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Making The Perfect Cup Of Coffee

A Brief History Of Coffee's Impact On The World

Coffee is the drink of choice for millions of people. Some love to drink specialty coffees or third wave coffee. Others prefer cheaper brands, such as you might find on the shelf of any grocery store. But few know where this wonderful beverage comes from.

A Brief History Of Coffee

When it comes to coffee, the legends of its origin are numerous. The most often attributed origin of the drink comes from the country of Ethiopia, and many coffees around the world can trace their origins to this region.

Ethiopian Origins Of Coffee

Ethiopian coffee has long been a great source of quality beans, and has been grown there for centuries. The legend says that a young goat herder named Kaldi first discovered the benefits of the fruit of these trees. While watching his flock of goats, Kaldi noticed that, after eating the berries off of a certain tree, his goats became very energetic, and wouldn’t sleep well.

As tradition holds, Kaldi shared this information with the abbot of a local monastery. The abbot made a drink with the berries and discovered that it helped him stay more alert during evening prayers. As he shared his discovery with the other monks, knowledge of the energizing drink made from the berries slowly began to spread.

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Reading God’s Word

Developing A Love For The Bible

I have recently been convicted concerning the idea of developing passion in my life as a believer. Such a passion has to be rooted in God’s Word.

God's Word and Coffee

Hebrews 4:12 gives us an incredible insight into the Word of God, and God’s own view of it:

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Did you notice the very beginning of that verse? God’s Word is living. If the Bible was a dead book, I would be able to read it once, and would never need to read it again. But it is a living Word. And every time I read it, I experience new and different things in it. As I read in it now, I am in a different place in my spiritual walk than I was the last time I might have read any given passage.

And since it is living, it has the power to work within my life and change me. God, through his Holy Spirit, will nudge me to change the things that he points out to me from reading his Word.

Each time I read this book, I find something new to me that I may never have noticed before. And I may not have ever noticed it before because I was not spiritually ready for that particular piece of Truth. And there are things that I am not ready for even yet. But I may be tomorrow, or next week, or next year, as I continue to grow.

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Deepening Our Roots

Developing Passion In Our Spiritual Life

The more I read the New Testament, the more I find that passion is an essential element of discipleship. Without passion, our faith could be seriously questioned.

Pine Tree

Psalm 1 gives us an excellent image of what it means to be deeply rooted, to be spiritually passionate. In verse 3, the psalmist says:

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.

This image of a tree is a perfect illustration of what it means to develop passion in our lives. The roots have to go deep, or there can be no production of fruit. In this psalm, the tree is planted strategically next to a stream of water, and it is rooted deeply enough to receive the nourishment it needs, and to prevent it from being easily uprooted.

This is exactly what we need to do in our lives. Passion and discipleship require us to be both strategic and solid in where we plant ourselves.

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Making The Perfect Cup Of Coffee – Pour Overs

My favorite way to make coffee is by using a pour over. There are several ways to accomplish this easily, and you’ll have a great cup of coffee.

Making the Perfect Cup of Coffee - Pour Over

There are lots of ways to make coffee using the pour over method. However, there are three specific ways of doing so that I particularly love to use. And each one brings different aspects of the coffee’s flavor to the forefront. Each of these three methods are very similar, but because they effectively brew the coffee differently, different flavors and notes arise.

These three different pour overs are the Chemex, the Hario V60, and the Beehouse. Of the three, the Chemex is my favorite.

Basically, each of these methods are accomplished the same way, and the device itself does the brewing work. The inner surface of each is different, affecting the turbulence created during the brewing process. It is subtle, but the difference is there for the discerning taster.

During this explanation, I will use the point of view of the Chemex. But the process is largely the same for each method. Begin by bringing your water almost to the boiling point. Water boils at 212 degrees. You want it just a few degrees below this point.

Place a filter into the Chemex. I prefer using unbleached filters, simply because I don’t like the harsh chemical residue that can be tasted in the bleached filters. If using an unbleached filter, rinse it with your water after placing it into the Chemex. This washes out any paper flavor, and creates a suction between the paper and the glass, keeping the filter in place.

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Pursuing Passion

I have become increasingly aware of my need to be more passionate in my life. And by passion, I mean my passion for Jesus Christ.

Tree

Several years ago, I was challenged to begin journaling as a key discipline in my spiritual life. Over the years, this has taken many forms. One of the more exuberant efforts was a journal I put together with several different categories, such as Bible reading, Bible study, memorization, prayer lists and forms, and more.

Now, each of these different disciplines were crucial, and I still believe that they are. But attempting them in that fashion did nothing but discourage me, and many of them didn’t last long.

Regardless, I still felt, and still feel, the need to become more passionate in my walk with Jesus. But how do I do that?

What I didn’t understand then, and have begun to learn now, is that discipline, for discipline’s sake, will never be effective. Discipline needs to happen in order to draw nearer to God.