Beyond Rituals: The Privilege Of Prayer

by Dane Massey    The school of prayer is an apprenticeship, not a lecture. This apprenticeship requires sustained, close personal contact with the Master.    As I approach the subject of prayer I’m reminded of a quote by Samuel Chadwick, a master of prayer from long ago:   “Any teaching on prayer that does not …

Weighing Philippians 1:21 “To Live Is Christ”

by Kevin Burton    When people think of you, what comes first to their mind? Or asked another way, what should  go into the first paragraph of your obituary?    I’m asking these questions today in the context of devotion to Christ, and Phil. 1:21 where the Apostle Paul writes “For to me to live …

Tips For An Organized, Clutter-Free Household

by Dictionary Scoop    We all know keeping a house organized takes time, energy, and even money at times. But none of those are enough when you don’t know how to get the organization ball rolling.    Organization can be a powerful tool to gain control over every aspect of your life. By learning some …

Songwriting School, Class In Session

by Kevin Burton    International Songwriters Day was observed yesterday and I’m staying on that theme.     This post is a service to all you songwriters, or really any kind of writers, out there. But who am I kidding, it’s also to keep my head in the game and stoke those musical fires again.    …

The Discipline Of Prayer Is The Hardest

by Dane Massey    (Dane Massey is the former Pastor of Mulvane Christian Church. He is now in ministry in Houston, Texas.)      Spent this week thinking on fervent, earnest, effectual, prevailing, passionate prayer.  It has taken God forty-some years, three godly women who are now with Him, and adversities without number to develop in …

Note To Bengals And Self: Don’t Lose Stupid

by Kevin Burton    Two takeaways from Sunday’s Chiefs-Bengals AFC Championship game, one a smirking aside, the other more lasting.    To set up the first one, I remember when the late great John Madden had just left his brilliant career as Oakland Raiders coach and just begun what would prove to be a brilliant …

Retirement Practice Makes Perfect, I Hope

by Kevin Burton    I’ve got retirement fever now. May it spark in me a desire for discipline.     Retirement has been on my mind for a while, but the taste for it was whetted during our recent vacation, spent mostly in Nebraska and South Dakota. We called the trip retirement practice. I would say …

My Cat Can’t Save Time In A Bottle

by Kevin Burton    I have a correction today. Got one of my facts wrong.    The older of the two cats we got in December is 13, not 11 as I previously reported. Page 7 regrets the error. So does Gabbie for that matter.    The confusion came because the lady at the cat …

My Box Of Discipline Is Backordered

by Kevin Burton    My wife brings me a piece of coffeecake from Starbucks. Great, I say, I’ll eat half of it for breakfast.    She knows I love the coffeecake. And at some level, I know, I will not stop inhaling until I have eagerly shaken the crumbs from the bag it came in. …

“Grandpa Kev” Just Doesn’t Sound Right

by Kevin Burton    My wife drove like a grandma ever before she was one.    I said this to her in person long before I said it to you in print and I assured her it was no putdown. In fact I mean it as the highest of compliments.    What does a grandma …