Consider this

                When was young, I was fascinated by Evel Knievel.   In fact, my brother and I often imitated him by building ramps and jumping our bikes off them.   There was only one problem.   After each new ramp was completed, someone had to be brave enough to give it a try to prove that the jump could be done without getting hurt.   “Who is going first?” was an important question.   Once someone showed that it was not that scary, then everyone would try it, but someone had to go first.                 Now that I am older, I am even more convinced that going first is a gift.   Here are two areas where it makes a huge difference.                 Go first with your mistakes.   We live in a world where people usually clean-up or cover up.   In other words, we work hard to hide our problems and pretend that they do not exist.   Unfortunately, d

                Sadly, summer is over!   I hope that you had a great time with things like camping, boating, road trips, concerts, reunions and weddings.   Summer is made for having fun and creating memories.                   Unfortunately, memories and good times have one inherent problem. Peter describes this issue by saying, “You know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life…” (1 Peter 1:18).   Notice the words “perishable” and “empty”.   Peter’s point is that temporary events cannot produce lasting joy.   Even the most expensive things that you have and your most wonderful memories will fade over time and leave you feeling empty and incomplete.                 For example, I love going to concerts!   However, as soon as the band sings the last song, some of the excitement of