Posts Currently viewing the tag: "SOG Acrostic"

I learned the hard way how easy it is to breach a dam. When I was fourteen, my dad hired a contractor to enlarge a stock pond on our ranch by building a dam. It was ten feet high and thirty feet thick at its base. As the pond filled, we discovered that the dirt…(Read More)

“The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude.” So wrote Viktor Frankl, an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who survived the Holocaust, living through the deprivation and horrors of both Auschwitz and Dachau. Consider the background for his writing about freedom. His wife, parents and brother were killed by the Nazis. His…(Read More)

I often warn people that when they start studying relational wisdom, real growth comes through “homework.” That’s what happened last week to a young woman I’ll call “Susan” (all names changed), who just shared this story with me. Susan’s boss, Barbara, asked her to make travel arrangements for a trip involving their…(Read More)

Corlette and I have very different depth perception. A car that I see as being a hundred feet away she sees as being a hundred inches away. So when I’d make a left turn with a car coming towards us in the opposite lane, she would tense up, grab the door handle, and jam…(Read More)

One of the greatest blessings of my recent time in South Africa was seeing how quickly people were applying relational wisdom to vital life issues, such as social injustice, racism, family disintegration, church leadership and evangelism. I was especially impressed by the insights of Kyle Johnston, a young pastor who leads the counseling ministry at…(Read More)

A slightly expanded version of this post is available here. God designed us to be three-dimensional in our relationships. Align yourself with this design, and your relationships prosper. Ignore it and they inevitably suffer. The 3D’s Are Everywhere From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible teaches us how to relate to God (love, trust…(Read More)

I learned the hard way how easy it is to breach a dam. When I was fourteen, my dad hired a contractor to enlarge a stock pond on our ranch by building a dam. It was ten feet high and thirty feet thick at its base. As the pond filled, we discovered that the dirt…(Read More)

It’s pretty hard to find a good confession in a modern movie … but here’s a great one. This clip comes from the movie Fireproof. Kirk Cameron plays a young fireman whose marriage is falling apart due to his selfishness, insensitivity, addiction to pornography, and violent temper. Erin Bethea plays his wife, Catherine, who…(Read More)

Today’s film clip is taken from the movie To End All Wars. Based on a book by the same title, this movie chronicles the suffering and spiritual transformation of a British soldier named Ernest Gordon. Captured by the Japanese just months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Gordon was put to work on the…(Read More)

“The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude.” So wrote Viktor Frankl, an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who survived the Holocaust, living through the deprivation and horrors of both Auschwitz and Dachau. Consider the background for his writing about freedom. His wife, parents, and brother were killed by the Nazis. His…(Read More)

Do you know an impulsive teenager? A frustrated wife? A detached husband? A resentful employee? A relationally clumsy pastor? If so, read on. Six years ago I developed a relational tool called “the SOG plan” as an alternative to selling my teenage daughter. When Megan hit fifteen, her emotions went into hyper-drive. Her limbic…(Read More)