Yesterday, I met with a friend I used to work with and hadn’t seen in a couple years. As our meeting was ending, he asked how he could pray for me. I told him I’d been reading Isaiah and Jeremiah recently and was struck with how often it was said that people were honoring God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him.

I told my friend I didn’t want to be that guy. I didn’t want to be the guy who talks a good game, but isn’t living it.

I find it too easy to be that guy. Maybe you do, too.

For me, it happens when I don’t believe God. It happens when I place my desire for comfort and pleasure ahead of my desire to be holy. It happens when God reveals truth to me, but I forget it.

It helps me to write this blog. It helps me to put it out there publicly. It helps me to remind myself of what I believe. It makes it harder to go my own way when I’m encouraging everyone else to go God’s way.

So I want to thank you for reading. I don’t know if I’d quit writing if no one was reading, but I might. Actually, I probably would. Thank you for allowing me to share what God is teaching me. Thank you for the comments, emails and Facebook messages I get from some of you. It encourages me to keep writing.

Thank you for sharing the journey with me.

Now if you’ll allow me to, I’d like to change direction for a moment and ask for your help…

I mentioned a few times that my wife, Robyn, is the area director of a non-profit ministry here in Fayetteville called Young Life. You can check out the local ministry here or the larger ministry of Young Life here.

As the area director, Robyn’s responsibilities include developing and training leaders, teaching/speaking, administrative functions and raising the budget. Because the budget has not been fully raised, her salary was reduced by 50% last fall and remains at that level. Her commitment level and the time she’s giving remain at 100% though. And the results show it.

She and her 27 trained volunteer leaders her having a significant impact in the lives of many students at the University of Arkansas and in the Fayetteville public schools. And they’ve just launched a new outreach to pregnant teens and teen mothers.

All but just a few of the volunteer leaders are college students, students who could be doing a lot of other things, but choose to give a significant amount of their time to loving and serving others. Honestly, their commitment humbles me. Robyn and I both consider it a privilege to build into them, to encourage them and to help them grow in their faith.

On Saturday, March 6th, Young Life Fayetteville will sponsor a walk-a-thon to try and raise $15,000. That was the amount raised last year. If they can hit that amount again, then it looks like the budget will be fully funded this year, Robyn will return to full salary and ministry can be expanded.

I will be participating in the “Not Quite 5k Walk-a-thon” and my goal is to raise at least $1,000.

Last year, it snowed the morning of the walk-a-thon and there was a bitterly cold wind blowing. I’m hoping it’s a little warmer this year.

Would you be willing to make a small (or large if you can!) tax deductible donation? Maybe you can do $15. Or maybe $500. Any amount will be a great help.

If you’d like to donate, you can click here to make a secure online donation. If you’d prefer to donate with a check, you can make it payable to “Young Life” and mail it to:

Thank you for whatever you may be able to do. I’ll report back on the results after the event.