It's pretty normal for Ryder to follow dinner with some sort of weapons demonstration. The lightsaber is typically his weapon of choice. He has three...

Why?

Because you just never know which one you're going to need, of course.

It was Tuesday and, like any other Tuesday, I was sitting at my desk, Bible open, wrestling with the upcoming Sunday's sermon outline. In short, I was being a good pastor, doing the hard work of preparing to put another meal on the table for my church family. In the midst of my faithful stewardship of the pastoral responsibility God has given me (said in a pompous and sarcastic tone), I received the following text message from my wife:

If you have ever wondered why it is so important we fight to reach this new generation of young men with the gospel, here's why...

Do you have a vision for something in your life?  You should. In fact you should have a vision for a number of things -  your spiritual life, your marriage and family, your vocation, and your particular area of ministry gifting. My guess is you do have a vision for a all these things, meaning you have some grasp of where things are currently and a hope for where they will be in the future. You see what is and have a picture of what could be.

We've all done it. We've all compared ourselves to someone else at some point in our lives - other Christians, other pastors, other parents, other husbands, other wives, other students, other men, other women...the list goes on and on. We compare ourselves to everyone around morally, spiritually, intellectually, and physically.

Though it's common place in our lives, our constant comparison is killing us. NOTHING good comes from comparing ourselves to anyone else. Think about it...comparison kills you because it inevitably leads to one of two places...