2.18.2013

The Power of Yes and No

I'm currently working to transform my use of two words: YES and NO.  Two simple, small words that pack so much power in our lives.  Here's what I mean:

A little over a year ago I heard one of my mentors say, "For every single yes that you say, you are saying thousands of nos."  

He explained it to me this way:  When you said yes to marrying your spouse, you said no to thousands of other people.  When you said yes to your career choice, you said no to thousands of other possibilities.  When you say yes to that work meeting at night, you are saying no to time with your kids and wife.  Every yes carries with it so many more nos.  In that conversation, my mentor challenged me to realize that when I say yes once, I am saying a ton of nos at the same time. One YES packs a lot of power.

So here's how I am trying to balance The Power of Yes and No in my own life at the moment.

I am working hard to say yes in a few areas.  When someone approaches me with an idea or dream God has given them, I want to say YES!  I want to be a person who gives them the divine go-ahead.  When someone has a God-given idea or God inspires me with a vision of what could be, I want to have enough margin in my life to say YES.  When people close to me need my time, focus, & attention, I want to be able to respond with a loud and proud YES!

And here's what I've realized in this process: To say YES to the areas & people in my life that are most important, I have to learn to say NO a lot more.  I have to say NO to things that can become a distraction, to things that aren't the most important, and to things that drain the margin in my life and prohibit me from saying YES to what God's called me to.  In short, being able to say YES to the God-things means saying NO to what are sometimes good things.  

Yes and No:  Two simple words that pack the power of life.

2.12.2013

Marriage Resources

This past Sunday we kicked off a brand new series at Timber Ridge called From Roommate To Soulmate.  (You can watch Sunday's message here.)  Over the next few weeks we'll be discovering principles from God's Word that can move us from stuck in a rut to happily ever after.

While the series has principles for all of us - single, dating, married and all things in between - I want to share some marriage resources today for those in the married crowd.

Here are a few great resources that can help you maximize your marriage and take it to the next level.  No matter how great - or how strained - your marriage might be, I encourage you to check these resources out!


  1. Refine Us - A website, blog, & marriage resource site that aims to restore hope & renew relationships in marriages.  
  2. Marriage On Ice - Gary Chapman offers some great insight in this article about how to work through difficulties when it feels like your marriage has gone cold.
  3. 8 Things That Destroyed Our Marriage - This free e-book shares the real life challenges that led to destruction in the marriage of Justin & Trisha Davis of RefineUs.org.
  4. Making Marriage Work - A quick, 3-minute video from Pastor Rick Warren on how to make marriage work.