This week I sat down with a young man who will be graduating from college later this year. As one would hope, he is full of anticipation about the future and a career in commercial real estate. My own energy began to build as he eagerly hung on every word I was sharing (please excuse my excitement...
How many times have you wished that God would write out the answer to your decision in the clouds? When it comes to making difficult choices, we all need help from above. If skywriting is asking too much, couldn't God send us some kind of sign? The job seems perfect for my skills and passion, but the pay will force us to move. The best candidate seems too good to be true...
According to one report, the average person hears 100,000 words and 34 gigabytes of information every day. That is a lot of information! The voices are constant, speaking out all sorts of agendas and motives and worldviews. That much noise can easily lead us into confusion and chaos. I raise this issue to ask an important question: Who are you listening to? What are your primary sources? How do you know they are trustworthy and true? Recently, I was discussing politics with a few family members (risky!) and was encouraging us all to work harder to grow in civility and grace when discussing issues that we disagree about. During that conversation, there was a statement challenging a news report my wife mentioned. Rather than arguing, she...
Whether you work for a large organization, a small company or your own business, all of us are called to strive for excellence as Colossians 3:23 reminds us: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters”; for ultimately, our efforts in business are presented to God. This is a theological cornerstone of how God created us to function in the marketplace. However, our desire for excellence and success can subtly shift how we view the tasks before us. If God commands our best, we may misunderstand that God demands a certain measure of accomplishment . . . which could eventually deceive us that our work is up to us alone. Yes, the marketplace measures success...
We are living in a time of unrest and turmoil. There is a cultural anxiety creating chaos, suspicion and division everywhere we turn. Political discussions have turned into shouting matches on social media. Every segment of our society has become polarized to the point where civility seems nowhere to be found. But where is the Church today? I’m not talking about your local congregation or your denomination. Where is the Body of Christ? Where are the followers of Jesus? The Church belongs to God and it is alive, but perhaps we have lost our way. Maybe we are drifting away from our call to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16). Have we forgotten Jesus’ two most important commandments—to love God with all your heart, soul and...
Greetings to all of the RCN family spread across our country and this industry. I pray that you are finding strength and encouragement in Christ during these unprecedented days. I would like to share excerpts from an email that Dr. Bill Maynard, my physician and dear friend, wrote this week: “Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.” (Hebrews 12:28) During the first week of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had three confirmed cases among our patients. One has died. Another is recovered. The third I am telephoning regularly, and his continued fevers and breathlessness nearly three weeks into the infection are keeping me on edge. Coronavirus can worsen after a week, and many of the infections that prove fatal do not reveal their...
Have you considered God’s creativity in your calling? He is the master of the unique–and sometimes unexpected–as He charts the course of our lives. Whether or not we realize it, God is purposefully arranging our relationships and opportunities. He is actually engineering our circumstances and prospects. I encourage you to take a few moments to meditate on the amazing creativity of His work in your life. Acts 18:1-3 describes how Paul arrived in Corinth after spending time in Athens. We think of Paul the apostle or Paul the missionary, traveling around establishing churches. But how did he do that in 52 BC, before electricity, cars, television or corporate jets? This is where God’s ingenuity comes into play. He took a man with a brilliant mind, changed...
'Acts 13:36 says, “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay.” God’s calling on our lives is not random, arbitrary or accidental. God’s calling is strategic and designed for a specific time and particular place. It is very possible, or even likely, that we won’t understand God’s plans for our Kingdom service in our lifetime. We are time dimensional creatures, but God is not bound by time or limited by geography in the way he uses us. He is not restricted by industries or networks or relationships. Early in the 20th century, Gertrude Hobbs was a bright, intelligent young woman with a single ambition—to become secretary to the Prime...
One of my highlights every year is gathering in Las Vegas during the ICSC RECon for our annual RCN Breakfast Gathering. During the convention, professionals and leaders in the Shopping Center industry come together for fellowship, encouragement and inspiration. Last week I had the privilege of interviewing David Oakes, founder and Senior Principal of CESO Inc. David shared his inspiring story and how he leads his business based on the principles of God’s Word and Jesus’ teachings. At the end of the program, I took the last three minutes to share the message of the gospel. In our information age, there are so many different personal faith stories, that I’ve found there is often confusion about the good news of Jesus Christ. My goal was to...
The concept of calling is a grand notion that doesn't have to remain a vague concept. God desires for us to know about and embrace his gracious calling (Ephesians 4:4-5). There is absolutely mystery surrounding God’s calling, but there are many things we can search out and discover about it in God’s Word. When God called Abram (later "Abraham") to leave everything familiar, in order to attain a new land and establish a new nation, there were a great many details God didn’t mention. Yet God’s calling was clear enough for Abram to leave his homeland and set out on the incredible journey of his life as recorded in Genesis 11:27-25:11. I believe that God has a special journey mapped out for us as well—a journey...