How do you feel about group work ? You remember, in high school or college (or maybe some other setting), you were assigned to work with a group of people on some project, report, or presentation. In my freshman year in college, my best friend at the time and I were assigned to work on a presentation with two other guys. The only problem was that one of the other guys never showed up for our meetings. The presentation was divided into four equal parts, and admittedly my frien

This is part eight, the final blog post, of my Panama reflection series . A little over five months ago, I was in Panama on a mission trip with a group of pastors from Virginia. This series of articles is my effort to share some of my experiences while also debriefing from my trip. Enjoy. This COVID-19 outbreak has appeared to wreak havoc on our lives as we knew it. Every parent is now a home-school teacher. Working from home is no longer a rarity. Many restaurants have adde

This is part seven of my Panama reflection series . A little over five months ago, I was in Panama on a mission trip with a group of pastors from Virginia. This series of articles is my effort to share some of my experiences while also debriefing from my trip. Enjoy. Crazy times we live in. We will not forget this – the COVID-19 pandemic. We have been warned to stay at home, social distance, and wash our hands all the time. Sports seasons have been cancelled or postponed. Air

This is part six of my Panama reflection series . A little over three months ago, I was in Panama on a mission trip with a group of pastors from Virginia. This series of articles is my effort to share some of my experiences while also debriefing from my trip. Enjoy. These days, my church could better be described as the arm sling capital of Virginia. We have so many members who have had shoulder surgery and are in the big, immobilizing arm slings. Those injured cross many dif

This is part five of my Panama reflection series . A little over two months ago, I was in Panama on a mission trip with a group of pastors from Virginia. This series of articles is my effort to share some of my experiences while also debriefing from my trip. Enjoy. At my church right now, we are winding down the Upward Basketball and Cheer season, and I am having a better season than I had last year as a coach. Recently though, one of my better players, arguably my best play

This is part four of my Panama reflection series . Two months ago, I was in Panama on a mission trip with a group of pastors from Virginia. This series of articles is my effort to share some of my experiences while also debriefing from my trip. Enjoy. This past Saturday was a rough day for me at our church’s Upward Sports Basketball games. On three different occasions, I was upset by the lack of respect of some of the kids participating in our program. These children were ta

This is part three of my Panama reflection series . This time a month ago, I was in Panama on a mission trip with a group of pastors from Virginia. This series of articles is my effort to share some of my experiences while also debriefing from my trip. Enjoy. One of the things that is NOT on my bucket list is to drive around in another country besides the United States. I have enough issues navigating other states here in the United States (just ask students who have gone on

This is part two of my Panama reflection series . A few weeks ago, I was in Panama on a mission trip with a group of pastors from Virginia. This series of articles is my effort to share some of my experiences while also debriefing from my trip. Enjoy. In preparation for my mission trip to Panama last month, my group and I were told we were going to preach revival services in various churches throughout the week. We would each be assigned to work with a particular church for

The next eight posts are going to be a series of reflections based on my recent mission trip to Panama . The first one is titled “Love of Country”. Enjoy. I have been back in the United States for about five days, and I have been thinking a lot about my recent mission trip to Panama. This is the second time I have been to this country, and this trip was very different than my last one. I have been asked by everyone “how did your trip go?” My response has been simply, “It was

Have you ever spent time working on a plan for anything and then when it is time to execute that plan it does not work like you planned it? Many people know exactly what I am talking about. We all spend a considerable amount of time crafting up the perfect schedule just to get the random person interrupting it or constructing the perfect grocery list full of health and thrift just to smell the fresh baked doughnuts when you walk in the store or maybe organizing every detail