Years ago I came across the story of a college track coach who would do an interesting experiment with his sprinters every year. At the start of the year he would tell them that they were going to run and that their times would rank them on the team.

All of the sprinters would take off and run as fast as they could, and their times were recorded. Then he would tell them to run a cool down sprint, and to focus on running relaxed and smooth. They would all run again and beat their first time. 

Then he would have them run again and focus on being even more relaxed and they would all beat their times again. 

It is counterintuitive but our bodies always perform better when they are relaxed. 

When we are mentally relaxed answers come faster and our productivity increases. 

Basketball coach John Wooden used to always tell his players to be quick but don't hurry. 

When we rest God works. 

It is important to make our meals look good, taste good, and smell good. One of the best ways to avoid boredom with nutrition and to make meals more exciting is to use a variety of herbs, spices, and sauces. 

There have been studies done where people were dropped in the middle of nowhere and asked to navigate their way out. If the people lacked a reference point then they tended to walk in circles because they make biased decisions favoring one side. They think they are walking straight, but they keep making small biased adjustments that cause them to walk in circles. To keep our lives from spinning in circles we need a true north, which is meant to be God’s standard. 

God's standards are meant to be the things above that we set our minds upon to help us navigate our lives. 

Down Below is the May 2020 Letter: The Things Above
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A few years ago a good friend of mine was leading a Bible study. He said " the Bible tells us to set our minds on the things above or the things of heaven, but can anybody tell me what these things are, because I want to know."

Out of about 15-20 guys nobody had an answer for this question. This seemed like an important question to answer so I started seeking God for an answer and he began to teach me. 

To set our minds on the things above is to set our minds on his standards for our lives, which are different than the worlds standards. 

For a couple of years I have been working on narrowing this down to a set of questions we can ask ourselves to know if we are on track. 

Here are some questions to be thinking about.

The Emotional Standard is Joy: How was my level of joy today?

Life Standard: God forgives and is giving us grace. Did I walk in forgiveness and give other people grace? 

Purpose: God has a unique plan for each of us. Did I seek hard after this plan today?

Health: O...

Recently I have come to the conclusion that joy is one of the best indicators for how we are doing emotionally. 

Emotions are the translator between our spirits and physical body. They let us know what we are truly believing in our hearts. 

If we are lacking joy it could be that we are focused on the wrong things. When we set our minds on the things above, the things of heaven, we will have joy. 

Yesterday I was listening to our pastor talk about how the Apostle Paul wrote about being joyful in Philippians, even though he was in prison at the time. Even in terrible circumstances he still had joy. 

One of the best ways to stir up our joy is by taking control of the imagination. The imagination is the short cut to reprogramming our emotions. If imaginations arise that steal our joy we must learn to cast them down and stir in images that generate joy instead. This is a practice. 

I once gave a baseball lesson to a 10 year old kid I had been working with for a few months. His swing had improved, but as we were hitting he started to struggle.  

He began to hit every ball straight into the ground and became very frustrated.  After several swings like this we stopped and fixed the problem. His swing was good but at the point of contact he was releasing his hands too early which was causing him to hit every ball straight into the ground.  

So we stopped and made an adjustment. It took about 2 minutes but when we were done he proceeded to hit about 20 of the best balls he had ever hit. Now the ground balls turned into line drives and maybe even home runs. Sometimes it is just a small adjustment at the point of contact that makes all the difference. 

The point of contact is a spiritual principle. I didn’t realize it at the time, but Oral Roberts wrote a book titled How to Find Your Point of Contact With God. Needs are constantly coming our way. They could be financ...

Every new month is like a fresh start. 

Here are some things I think about at the start of every month.

• A new month is a reminder to do something fun. When was the last time we had a lot of fun?
• Is my financial tracking/accounting up to date?
• What new habits can I be working on this month?
• What are the projects/goals this month?
• What little things need to get done this month... renew a certification, pay a bill, etc

I have been praying the Prayer of Jabez consistently for several years. The prayer is found in 1 Chronicles 4:10. The Bible says Jabez was an honorable man and he prayed the following prayer and God answered his prayer. 

Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.

In the second part Jabez asks God to enlarge his territory. Something I have found is good to pray is asking God to enlarge our capacity to receive what he has for us. 

Recently I have regularly praying a prayer found in Ephesians 1:17-23.

This is a prayer the apostle Paul prays for the people. 

Here is the prayer...

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 

And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything ...

One of the things I love about Spring is hearing all of the birds chirping and singing in the morning. Spring is a reminder to continually have a song in our hearts. 

Recently my wife and I had a conversation about what really matters when it comes to health. The conclusion we came to is that health is a frequency or vibration, which is where the phrase vibrant health comes from. We can tune into health. 

One of the best ways to improve the frequency or vibration of our bodies is to continually have a song in our hearts. Music has the power to change the mood of an individual or an entire room and it is a great way to boost energy.