Calibrate360: Recent Episodes
Calibrate360
You were wondrously created by God, embrace the gifts God has given you and don’t diminish those gifts because you see something else as more desirable or important. Throughout my life I’ve wrestled with visibility, importance, and validating the absolutely unique calling with which God has called me. Embracing my “wiring” as a spiritual engineer […]
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The call to disciple making is a call to transformational servant leadership.
The post The Call to Disciple Making is a Call to Transformational Servant Leadership appeared first on Calibrate360.
I sometimes need to say to myself, “I don’t care what people think about this.” But I do care what people think, I just don’t want my decision-making to be driven by the fear of what people will think or how they respond…. Whenever I say “I don’t care,” my mind goes back to 6th […]
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Every passion and vision comes with obstacles. It is as though there’s always a path to be cleared through deep weeds before we can forward a passion or gain traction with a vision. When God gives us a piece of His vision it is ours to move forward with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit […]
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Listening, processing, and writing. You know, something strange just happened and often happens when I open my journal for the morning. I thought, “I don’t have any thoughts to write.” My response to myself was, “I rarely have thoughts when I open my journal, the thoughts come after I start writing.” And that’s exactly what […]
The post Positioning Ourselves to Hear and Capture the Heartbeat of God appeared first on Calibrate360.
Transformational Servant Leadership I’ve always been more comfortable as a follower than as a leader. I am first a follower, a follower of Christ, a follower of the people who have been put in my life to lead and direct things of which I am a part. If you don’t learn to follow well you […]
The post Leadership by Necessity Not Choice appeared first on Calibrate360.
We’ve heard people talking about a “new normal” or “when things get back to normal.” It occurred to us that sometimes “normal” gives way to a new reality full of purpose, hope, and opportunity. Having lived through a deep grief process, we’ve simply recognized a grief process at work in the world around us. In this episode we are talking […]
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Embracing adversity, being willing to say “yes” to the tough stuff gives us new lenses to see things differently, it exercises atrophied muscles needed for new adventures and callings, and it deconstructs our inferior plans to make way for God’s excellent plans. In this episode we talk about saying “yes” to adversity in expectation of […]
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On David’s 60th birthday, his journal entry included 7 things he will do in the next 20 years based upon lessons learned in the previous 20. In this episode David and Donna talk about reflections on joyfully living, leading, and loving. Turning 60 this week caused me to look back and to look forward. 20 […]
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Those we lead have the opportunity to see who we really are when we lead them in and through a crisis. Our heart, our character, our resolve, our faith, our love, and our motivations are all revealed. In episode 148 of The Calibrate Life Podcast, we discuss 8 things for a leader to keep in focus while leading […]
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If God has positioned you as a spiritual leader, he will also empower you to serve and lead. In this episode we are going to talk about the mantle and anointing that comes with God’s call and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to lead in times of uncertainty. This episode, particularly the last 20 minutes, was […]
The post 147 – Leading in Crisis: Spirit-Empowered Leadership appeared first on Calibrate360.
You can do anything you want to do but you can’t do everything you want to do. Shiny-object Syndrome is the urge to chase and engage things that get your attention. The problem is, there are too many opportunities, too many shiny objects, more interesting and compelling things than we have time or resources to […]
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Margin is the blank spaces on a document that defines its borders and makes it readable and functional. We need margin in our lives. It is the spaces, the blanks, that make everything else work. REST, health, well-being, effectiveness and many other things are elusive if we don’t mind the blank spaces. In this episode of […]
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We’ve declared our 2020 to be the year of learning to REST again. The “gold” of our lives comes from the ability to rest in the Presence of God, learning to zone down, learning to listen. In this episode we talk about our renewed commitment to really learn to rest, to have abiding peace in […]
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How do you know when you aren’t sacrificing enough? In last week’s episode we discussed how to know when we are sacrificing too much out of the wrong motivation, and this week we look at the other side of the coin. Last week we talked about how we know when a sacrifice is TOO great. […]
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Life is simply full of sacrifices. As a matter of normal course, we often give up something we care about or love to gain something we care about or love more. Sacrifice embraces change and transition as we let go of important things to gain more important things. Sacrifice: How Do You Know When it […]
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Your actions, habits, and practices accomplish the things in your heart. Spiritually minded people are good at experiencing God, but often, not so good at obeying God. Obedience always translates into actions, and if you have a dream or an intention that just never gets translated into reality, what you need to work on is […]
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Today’s topic is a little controversial, even to me, but we think it is on target. It’s foolish to do something negotiable without counting the cost. It is foolish to NOT do something non-negotiable whether you have counted the cost or not. This is recklessness. I have decided, I need to live life with more […]
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Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time. It has also come to be used as a term referring to the mental, physical, emotional, intellectual, and even spiritual capacity required to deal with a situation. In this episode of Calibrate Life we discuss how to gauge, […]
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We can feel drained, rested, or energized in each of our four capacities: physical, emotional, intellectual or spiritual. In this episode we discuss how to refresh, re-fire, and replenish those four capacities and how to stay full of life and energy. This is a podcast, so there is more content in the audio than in […]
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Living joyfully is about finding contentment right now. Can we just decide to WANT to be where we are right now? Can we just decide to cherish the uniqueness of this day and this moment? Can we slow down enough to touch, to taste, to really see, to listen, to feel things I may never […]
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I heard someone say the other day, “you have to love what you do if you want to be good at it.” Living out our great God-adventure often involves doing things we’d rather not do. So, how to come to embrace and even love doing things we don’t like so much, and to even […]
The post 136 – How to Love Doing the Stuff You Don’t Love appeared first on Calibrate360.
Spiritual warfare is a real. Often, life’s obstacles come from our stupid choices or uninformed decisions, but if you are attempting obedience, if you are attempting to follow a bold God-path, if you yield yourself to be a part of the solution to some of the problems of this world — you are going to […]
The post 135 – Standing in Spiritual Warfare appeared first on Calibrate360.
Hireath is an old Welsh word describing a feeling of homesickness for something that no longer exists. In the grief journey, in major life transitions, and in almost every pursuit of the great adventure, this is a feeling with which we must grapple. Hiraeth: Homesick For Something That No Longer Exists One of my lessons […]
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For a relationship to be nurturing, life-giving, and active, it has to bring some value to all of the participants. The most valuable value is love, friendship, and mutual companionship. But, particularly of those of you who orchestrate relationships, in this episode we are going to the importance of orchestrating relationships and why life-giving content […]
The post 133 – Orchestrating Life-Giving Relationships appeared first on Calibrate360.
Persistence is necessary to the fulfillment of any mission. Talent, genius, education, and even spirituality is not enough in and of itself to be successful in your mission, the prize goes to the persistent. In this episode we talk about the necessity and the power of persistence. Persistence is the Prerequisite to Victory Persistence is […]
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Having let go of a lot of significant things about our former life, and having made an ongoing decision to step into a new life, new adventures, and new focus, we’ve found these 6 things to be true and necessary for taking risks and going in unproven new life directions. Continue Reading for the Article […]
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How do you know when an open door is the right door? Sometimes we have to wait so long and opportunities are so hard to come by that when we have an opportunity we feel we should seize it. In this episode we are discussing doors, when to walk through them and when to walk […]
The post 130 – How Do You Know if An Open Door is the Right Door? appeared first on Calibrate360.
Mission drift is when you unintentionally broaden your focus and start moving toward things you you never intended to pursue, your life travels the path of least resistance, and you end up where you never planned or wanted to go. In this episode we explore mission drift and talk about a few ways to avoid […]
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Spiritual leaders model the way. We model expectations and the pace for those we love and lead. In this episode we discuss 5 things we must model to those we love and lead. Continue to read the article/episode notes… Why it is Important to Model the Way: and 5 Ways to Model Many know the […]
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Spiritual leadership is about being and becoming a transformational servant leader, following the example of Christ. Leadership isn’t just about leading, it is about serving and encouraging positive change and spiritual empowerment in the live of those we love and lead. Continue to read the article/episode notes… Being and Becoming a Transformational Servant Leader Note: […]
The post 127 – Being and Becoming a Transformational Servant Leader appeared first on Calibrate360.
If our focus is trying to avoid dealing with criticism we will miss the mark and fail accomplish much of significance. We are going to get criticized often. In this episode we give 10 our our pointers for dealing with criticism. Continue to read the episode notes/article… Ten Pointers for Dealing with Criticism Last Week […]
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In leadership, sometimes we are givers of healthy criticism, sometimes we are recipients of healthy and sometimes unhealthy criticism. Dealing with and working through critical points is a component of conflict management and leading a healthy team. In the next two episodes we will discuss how to deal with and rise above criticism. For the […]
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I’ve made a lot of mistakes in every area of my life, but it’s not whether or not you make mistakes, because you will, its how you handle them and recover from them. In this episode we talk about a few of the mistakes we’ve made as leaders, and what we learned from them. Continue […]
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(I don’t often take the time to post from my journal, but this morning, I just wanted to share this entry as we minister in Appalachia this morning.) Sometimes it seems that everything about life is strange. The way it progresses, the path it takes, the way we make sense out of everything. When I […]
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Journaling is a spiritual discipline and a very important part of a leader’s calibration. In this episode of Calibrate Life we discuss some practical pointers for journaling and a journal template. Continue Reading for the article and episode notes… Seven Practical Journaling Pointers Journaling is one of my strongest disciplines. For me, journaling is a […]
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Setting and maintaining the right pace is critical to your spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical health. In this episode we discuss running at a healthy pace. Look around. Re-set your pace. Look at the distance. Look at the season. Take a moment to consider the strategy of your pace. Continue to read the article / […]
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The lesson and the miracle of your great adventure is the transformation God works in YOU on the journey. I’m not even sure the most important thing is getting to the top of the mountain. I think the most important thing is experiencing God’s love and learning to accept and embrace his love and confidence […]
The post 121 – Lessons From the Great Adventure: It’s Mostly About YOUR Transformation appeared first on Calibrate360.
When you get to a tough place you have to push, but the push is important because it builds a necessary resolve within you. “Pushing” through the hard places solidifies your resolve to fulfill your mission. In this episode of the podcast we discuss one of the greatest lessons we’ve learned on our great adventure… […]
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Great Adventures involve the impossible — otherwise it wouldn’t be a great adventure. Trusting God for the impossible stretches us to new levels and intensifies our trust in God. We cannot let the things that seem impossible to us keep us from trusting God in our disciplined pursuit of his adventure for our lives. In […]
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Every great adventure has a huge learning curve. Be ready to take it on, don’t be intimidated by it, because it’s only going to make you grow and make you better. In this episode of Calibrate Life, we discuss lessons we are learning on our great life adventure. Continue reading for the article and episode […]
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Every spiritual leader is responsible to develop the Timothies in their lives. Spiritual leaders have an obligation to lift those they love and lead. The very definition of “Spiritual Leadership” implies the function of helping people discover God’s purpose and calling upon their lives. In episodes 115 and 116 we discussed the first two of […]
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Every healthy and growing spiritual leader needs three specific types of relationships in their lives. We need a “Paul” who will mentor us, a “Barnabas” who will encourage and challenge us, and a “Timothy” into whom we are investing as a mentor or spiritual leader. In last week’s episode 115 we discussed the importance of […]
The post 116 – Three Vital Relationships Every Leader Must Have: A Friend to Walk With You appeared first on Calibrate360.
Every leader must have three vital relationships to succeed. We need a “Paul,” someone to mentor us. We need a “Barnabas,” someone to walk with us in honesty as a friend and accountability partner. We must find “Timothies,” those in whom we invest as a mentor and a leader. In this episode we discuss the […]
The post 115 – Three Vital Relationships Every Leader Must Have: The Mentor appeared first on Calibrate360.
We have to find our people, our tribe, because the mission to which God has called us requires a team. For us it is about the people with whom we will partner in a big way or a small way to accomplish the mission God has given us together. continue for the article / episode […]
The post 114 – Who Are Your People? appeared first on Calibrate360.
You are not the only one who often feels overwhelmed, it goes with the calling to Spiritual Leadership. I’m not sure the overwhelming feeling toward an impossible and undoable task ever goes away, but the rest comes in trusting God to accomplish through us what we could never accomplish without his help. read the article […]
The post 113 – Learning the Unforced Rhythms of Grace appeared first on Calibrate360.
A vision funnel will keep you focused on converting the big picture things in your life, the things important to you because they are things God has called you to do, a vision funnel will help you convert your “big picture” into every day reality. In this episode we give the basics of using a vision funnel to move your big picture dreams into reality.
The post 112 – The Vision Funnel: Moving Your Big Picture to Reality appeared first on Calibrate360.
Routines increase your effectiveness. We make hundreds of decisions a day, but if you pre-decide the things you do over and over again, you will conserve a lot of energy you could devote to other things, you will not suffer as much from decision fatigue, and you will more efficiently get your work done. Then you can rest better and get to some of the things that recharge you.
The post 111 – Can’t Get Your Work Done? Routines Increase Effectiveness appeared first on Calibrate360.
Here are eight things we've learned about raising spiritually healthy kids. Being a spiritual leader does not automatically make us better parents, in fact it brings with it challenges that other parents sometimes do not have, but hose challenges are more blessings than they are curses. It is a blessing for a child to have parents (or a parent) who loves God and does their best to fulfill their spiritual calling to love, lead, and lift their children.
The post 110 – Eight Commitments for Raising Spiritually Healthy Kids appeared first on Calibrate360.
Life and leadership is a cycle of embracing a passion, pushing through the pain of reality, and then realizing the promise. There is always tough stuff to press through. How do we keep the joy and enjoy the journey while pushing through the realities that lead to the promise? In this episode, we talk about the place on our journey where we have to push through the part we don't always want to do because it will take us to the place we want to be.
The post 109 – Pushing Through the Pain to Realize the Promise appeared first on Calibrate360.
Here are seven practices for a healthy marriage. Your marriage is your most important relationship and it is a gift from God, and like every other relationship, it requires an investment. In this episode of Calibrate Life, David and Donna discuss the Seven Practices for a Healthy Marriage.
The post 108 – Seven Healthy Marriage Practices appeared first on Calibrate360.
Guarding our marriage circle is protecting the relationship between spouses. We see our marriage relationship as a circle, with only the two of us and God present. We try to keep things that don't belong in that circle of relationship outside the circle. This isn’t always easy to do, and we are not always successful at it, but just the awareness of the difference between the inside of the circle and the outside of the circle is helpful. In this episode of Calibrate Life, David and Donna talk about the importance of guarding the marriage circle.
The post 107 – Guarding Our Marriage Circle appeared first on Calibrate360.
Until we have decided what we really do believe and live life "as if" we believe it, we will not make great progress toward our great adventure or the life we really want to live. Sooner or later we have to decide what we believe to be the truth and anchor in it. In this article and episode of Calibrate Life, we discuss being "all in" with the ways we choose to invest our lives.
The post 106 – I Have Decided… All In appeared first on Calibrate360.
Passion is essential to our leadership, it is our ignition, it motivates us to press through difficulties to lay hold of the things for which we are passionate. Passion encourages us to press past obstacles and difficulties to achieve the thing important to us, and to God. In this episode of Calibrate Life, we talk about why passion is essential for life and leadership.
The post 105 – Why Passion is Absolutely Essential to Leadership appeared first on Calibrate360.
Celebrating wins encourages the heart because it emphasizes the reality that we really are moving forward, When life is just one long string of events, those events run together without separators. Celebrating wins emphasizes that we really are going somewhere good, and we actually have a chance of getting there. In this episode of Calibrate Life, we discuss the importance of celebrating our wins.
The post 104 – The Importance of Celebrating Wins appeared first on Calibrate360.
Someday, at the end of your journey, you will look back at the mission you passionately pursued, and you will realize there were a lot of unanticipated consequences. In this episode we discuss some things we are learning about how we all can better position ourselves to live and lead in such a way as to give room for the unanticipated consequences of pursuing our mission.
The post 103 – Discovering the Unanticipated Consequences of Your Mission appeared first on Calibrate360.
Should we have New Year’s resolutions? Do they work? If I trust God to shape and lead my future, do I need a strategic plan? In episode 102 of the Calibrate Podcast, we will discuss the tension between following the Spirit and having a plan.
The post 102 – Do New Year’s Resolutions Work and Should You Have One? appeared first on Calibrate360.
We must sharpen our focus to increase our effectiveness, but so many things vie for our attention. In this episode we are going to talk about achieving the FOCUS necessary for forward movement in our lives.
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One of the Christmas traditions of our family is sharing family communion together on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. I prepared this guide, at the request of my daughter Kelly, who is now the lead pastor of a church, and who has a desire to encourage the people of her church in this tradition. We hope this guide will assist those desiring to share the Lord’s Supper with their families, but may not know how to approach it. This is simply the way we’ve done it.
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We all have a story, the way God has revealed himself to us and through us. Your story is uniquely yours, yet, people recognize their story in yours. In this episode we will share the stories that have shaped our lives, and encourage you to know and anchor in your story.
The post 100 – Our Story appeared first on Calibrate360.
Small things done consistently over a long period of time will produce above-and-beyond results. We’ve learned some lessons about persistence in recording 99 episodes, and in this episode of the Calibrate Life Podcast we will discuss the power of persistence.
The post 099 – Persistence is the Path to the Best Places appeared first on Calibrate360.
Part of our story is about having our confidence shaken that God would answer our specific prayers. We had to rebuild the way we viewed prayer. Will God answer our important prayers, and how do we know we are praying the right things? In this episode of the Calibrate Life Podcast, we talk about “Lessons from an Unanswered Prayer.”
The post 098 – Lessons from an Unanswered Prayer appeared first on Calibrate360.
What do you do when your mission is bigger than what you can do? In this episode of the Calibrate Life Podcast we talk about navigating your journey when the outcomes are fully dependent upon God.
The post 097 – When Your Mission is Bigger than Your Ability appeared first on Calibrate360.
The grief process is a journey and not a finish line, in fact, depending upon the depth of the relationship with lost loved one, we never “get over it”, but we can be healthy and whole. In this episode of the Calibrate Life podcast, we talk about how to encourage those we love as they journey through grief.
The post 096 – How to (Not) Encourage Those Who Grieve appeared first on Calibrate360.
Sometimes we have a conviction that causes us to believe in something so strongly that we are motivated to push past our deepest fears with courage. In this episode of the Calibrate Life podcast we talk about stirring up the gift of God within us, pushing past the fears, and embracing our strongest convictions.
The post 095 – Fan the Flame, Overcome Fear, and Live Your Convictions appeared first on Calibrate360.
Change and resulting life transitions are a big part of our lives, everything is constantly changing. We are either living or dying, but never really static. Transitions are the life zones between where we were and where we are going. In this episode of the Calibrate Life Podcast, David and Donna discuss thriving through life's transitions.
The post 094 – Thriving Through Life’s Transitions appeared first on Calibrate360.
When we demonstrate the heart and humility of Christ, we practice transformational leadership, we practice servant leadership, we practice spiritual leadership. And while this is an encouragement to focus upon the interests of others beyond our own in our interactions with them, it does serve our interests, because, in serving like Christ, we become like him, and we know him on a level we could not have otherwise imagined.
The post 093 – Demonstrating the Heart and Humility of Christ as a Spiritual Leader appeared first on Calibrate360.
How do you KNOW you are on the right path? Are there identifiers that help you RECOGNIZE the path you are to follow. On our journey we discovered some identifiers that helped us recognize our path. In this episode we discuss some of the markers or identifiers that may help you recognize and embrace your mission path.
The post 092 – Five Identifiers for Recognizing Your Path appeared first on Calibrate360.
We have to be strategic and we must seek divine strategy, but we have found, and are finding, that following the wind of the Spirit and catching God’s current isn’t about clarity for the entire journey, but it is finding the trust to start. In this week's episode of the Calibrate Life Podcast, David and Donna talk about pushing out into the current.
The post 091 – Learning to Catch the Wind appeared first on Calibrate360.
This episode of the Calibrate Life Podcast is a bit personal as we share some of the next steps in our lives and how we got to this place in embracing our great adventure. It is our hope that it will be an encouragement to our listeners as you demonstrate the heart and humility of Christ through your lives.
The post 090 – Some Big Next Steps in Our Great Adventure appeared first on Calibrate360.
Failure to take action raises my anxiety levels through the roof. Tasks unfinished, not started, and procrastinated cause an overwhelming feeling. When things are not moving forward the way we feel they should, we start to feel hopeless and depressed. Today, we talk about how the failure to take action on important things can actually push us deeper into depression.
The post 089 – Depression Busters: Taking Action Manages Anxiety appeared first on Calibrate360.
Sleep is very important in overcoming depression. When we don't get enough sleep, or endure sleepless nights, we are less able to deal with normal anxiety. Many people struggle with sleeplessness. In this episode we talk about some of the things that have helped us sleep even when dealing with high levels of anxiety.
The post 088 – Depression Busters: When You Just Cannot Sleep appeared first on Calibrate360.
Rest and energy levels are vitally important to your emotional health. Sleeping well, proper pacing, perspective pauses, intentionally managing energy levels in four zones, and balancing taking action and taking breaks. Many things associated with living, leading, and loving, cast a shadow across our joy and cause us to slide, or at least start sliding toward depression. In this episode we continue our "Depression Busters" series, as we discuss the importance of rest and refreshing.
The post 087 – Depression Busters: Rest and Energy Levels appeared first on Calibrate360.
We need friends. Life and leadership is about people. It is about relationships. You cannot be emotionally healthy in a vacuum. Most of us only have a few friends, people we can count on, people with whom we are doing life. In fact, if you have one or two, you are blessed. A lot of people don’t have any intimate friends. In this episode we explore the importance of friends in overcoming depression, how to find friends, make friends, and strengthen our connection to them.
The post 086 – Friends: Why You Need Friends, How to Find Friends, How to Make Friends, How to Keep Friends appeared first on Calibrate360.
We’ve got to make things simple and keep things simple. When things get too complicated we lose track, we get bogged down, cluttered, and we don’t accomplish much. My problem is that complicated things fascinate me. We’ve got to stay committed to moving complexity into simplicity, finding the simple truths in things, and keeping the main thing the main thing.
The post 085 – Simplicity. Simply Communicating the Complex appeared first on Calibrate360.
Significance is importance, we want to be important. Significance is being of consequence, mattering. Are existence and our presence being of consequence, mattering, making a difference. When we say we want to live a significant life, what we usually mean is we want our life to matter, we want the fact that we were here to change something, to be transformational in some way. We want our lives to have worth.
The post 084 – Significance, Is It Worth It and Does It Matter? appeared first on Calibrate360.
Living joyfully requires putting our trust in the right things. Anxiety strips us of joy, but trusting in the right things gives us the certainty necessary to alleviate or lessen anxiety. We experience joyful living out of a posture of peace. In this episode we discuss the peace that surpasses all understanding, and experiencing joy and joyful living when we learn to trust.
The post 083 – We Experience Joy When We Learn to Trust appeared first on Calibrate360.
Joy comes from the inside not the outside. Joy comes from the work Christ is doing inside us. Believe it or not, joy comes more from the things we lose, or let go of, than for the things we have, or hold on to. We continue on our journey through the New Testament book of Philippians and learning to live a life of joy in spite of the circumstances or challenges we face.
The post 082 – We Experience Joy from the Inside Out appeared first on Calibrate360.
Living a joyful life requires learning to embrace humility, considering others above ourselves, and embracing God's mission for our lives as our definition of success. Making a commitment to live joyfully does not mean that you feel joy all the time, or life becomes this wonderful ever-joy-filled journey. It is a determination to find the paths and ways of joyful living, applying them, and experiencing a joyful life prompted by who we are and our choices. In this episode we continue to discuss the path of joy as revealed in the New Testament book of Philippians.
The post 081 – Living Joyfully Through Embracing Humility appeared first on Calibrate360.
Can we have joy in difficult circumstances? Our attitudes, our motivation, and our purpose for living will help us press through the difficult things in our lives and experience joy. It is a journey, it may not happen overnight, but when we consistently choose the right attitude and live with the right motivations, we will experience and live joy, even through the tough stuff.
The post 080 – Having Joy in Difficult Circumstances appeared first on Calibrate360.
Quick wins are important, focusing on urgent projects is necessary, but to accomplish deep things, things of eternal significance, we've got to take a long view of things. We've all been given the same amount of time, but we can trust God to manage time according to his agenda. When we place all of our energy on the things we can accomplish over the short-term, we miss the value of the long-play.
In this episode we discuss how God is the master of time and we've got to be willing to take on things that will take a long time to build. To see transformation, to build an enduring work, and to fulfill our mission, we've got to take a long-view.
The post 079 – Making the Most of Time and Taking a “Long-Play” Attitude appeared first on Calibrate360.
Raising daughters with a leadership call upon their lives requires seeing and responding to the path God is crafting in their lives. Honestly, we are a part of a tribe that theologically embraces women in ministry and leadership, but sometimes, in practice, we are more comfortable with traditional roles. As a Dad, I had a front row seat over a couple of decades of the struggles and challenges of a young women feeling a call to ministry in a world where men in lead pastor roles just makes some people more comfortable.
The post 078 – Encouraging Our Daughters to Lead: Interview with Kelly Delp appeared first on Calibrate360.
Whether we initiate the chaos or it spontaneously erupts, we’ve got to give leadership to the chaotic state of things. We’ve got to navigate through the chaos. Leaders sometimes lead through spontaneous chaos that just happened, and at other times, we actually initiate chaos to transition from our present reality to our desired future. In this week’s episode, David and Donna discuss when to initiate chaos and how to appropriate lead through chaos.
The post 077 – Navigating and Leading Chaos appeared first on Calibrate360.
Chaos is part of transformation. Before we can experience transformational change, we've got to experience the disorganization of chaos while a new reality is underway. Why must we face chaos, how do we navigate it, and what is the difference between destructive and constructive chaos?
The post 076 – Embracing the Chaos of Life and Leadership appeared first on Calibrate360.
Humility is one of the greatest assets and attributes of a leader. Pride goes before a fall and arrogance is self serving. How do we position ourselves to lead in humility? Humility being what it is, how do we even pursue humility, isn’t it just something that is? And how to we coach and mentor humility in those we are leading and lifting?
The post 075 – Gaining Humility Through Adversity and Serving appeared first on Calibrate360.
Spiritually, our primary resource is the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Physically and temporally our resources comes through relationships, finances, and other temporal resources. When we “see something” in our spirits, a vision, a hope, something we feel is God’s direction for our lives, then we’ve got to move it from being something we’ve envisioned and hoped for into something that is actually happening. We’ve got to have physical resources to finance our objectives. In this episode David and Donna discuss a mindset of preparation and coaching those we love and lead in resourcing their paths and calling.
The post 074 – Resourcing Your Path appeared first on Calibrate360.
There is a difference, yet a connection between the PLAN of God and the PATH of God for our lives. We’ve spent a lot of energy recently striving to discern the PLAN of God for our lives, but we are learning that discerning and finding the plan of God for our lives is not nearly as important as finding and walking the PATH of God for our lives.
The post 073 – Do You Want to Know the Plan of God or the Path of God? appeared first on Calibrate360.
We want to live a legacy life and lead from a legacy mentality. This means living and leading in such a way as to lay foundations for buildings others will build, cutting paths fo others walk, and making investments for the next generation to spend. In this episode, David and Donna talk about the motivation of legacy leadership and the desire to "mature" rather than just get old and the "right now" life necessary to aim toward getting "better" instead of "bitter."
The post 072 – Living and Leading a Legacy Life appeared first on Calibrate360.
We've identified 4 stages or levels of leadership development: Inspiration, Ignition, Insight, and Implementation. These four areas focus upon spiritual life, developing the right passions, gaining the skills and tools necessary, and taking action. We must make a personal investment as leaders lifting leaders, but how do we do that and what is a good development path for growing a core leadership team? In this episode of Calibrate Life, David and Donna discuss these four stages of the path to developing leaders.
The post 071 – How to Develop Leaders and Make Disciples appeared first on Calibrate360.
This week was a huge transition for us. We've contemplated a major transition for a couple of years and planning it for several months and we just crossed the threshold of exiting the safe and secure roles we've held for a long time so we can pursue our great adventure in earnest.
The post 070 – Our Transition, Letting Go, and “Losing” Our Identity appeared first on Calibrate360.
If only God included a blueprint design for our lives when we were born so the design could be meticulously followed. One of the greatest concerns for Christ followers and spiritual leaders is being faithful to the will of God for our lives, but it can seem so nebulous. God has hardwired a blueprint into your life. It is revealed though listening to his heartbeat, observing the passions emerging within us, paying attention to the paths of our lives, and established through our actions, habits and practices.
The post 069 – A Blueprint for God’s Will for Your Life appeared first on Calibrate360.
Emotionally calibrated people have healthy relationships with safe people. Dysfunctional relationships not only disrupt our lives, but opening up to the wrong people, unsafe people, can hinder, damage, or destroy us as spiritual leaders. In this episode, David and Donna discuss some of the principles from the book, Safe People, and how to carefully choose our relationships for joyful and healthy living.
The post 068 – Embracing Healthy Relationships: Do You Hang Out With Safe People? appeared first on Calibrate360.
An adventure is an exciting or very unusual experience, one that is bold and risky. If the outcomes are certain, it is not an adventure. If you already know what you will see, encounter, and navigate it is not an adventure. Adversity grows us, prepares us, and emboldens us to live an adventurous life. We’ve decided that one […]
The post 067 – Adversity Makes it Possible for Life to be a Great Adventure appeared first on Calibrate360.
Calibrating our lives so we can live joyful, healthy, and effective lives requires having sufficient margin in our lives and schedules. Margin is the blank space left around the edge of a document that give it order. Margin is also the blank spaces we leave in our lives and on our schedules to accommodate the […]
The post 066 – Overcoming Life Overload: Minding Your Margin appeared first on Calibrate360.
When we step into a predefined role, we sometimes allow it to strip away our uniqueness. We have to remember God’s design for our life includes who he made us to be. Rather than shaping ourselves to meet expectations, we need to consider how we function best, our gifts, our strengths, and our values. How […]
The post 065 – Shape the Situation to Who You Are… Not Who You Are to the Situation appeared first on Calibrate360.
Every one of us longs to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives, to step into the next great adventure and live the life we know we should live, and to live joyfully. In our huge transition we’ve found (so far) seven scriptures that encourage and guide us. In this episode, David and Donna discuss those […]
The post 064 – Seven Scriptures to Guide Your Great Adventure (from Cape Town South Africa) appeared first on Calibrate360.
Sometimes when we are in new and exciting places it is easier to listen to the heartbeat of God, but it can sometimes be difficult to “hear” when you are disoriented, in transition, or not thinking clearly. David and Donna are podcasting from South Africa today and talking about their adventure of trying to listen […]
The post 063 – Practically Live From South Africa: Disoriented Listening appeared first on Calibrate360.
There is a time to take action and a time to wait, to be still and know God is God. Last week we talked about the necessity of being action takers, this week we talk about the equally important practice of being still, trusting, and allowing God to do those things that are his part, […]
The post 062 – Be Still and Know appeared first on Calibrate360.
You can't just sit around waiting for God to do something for you when you should be taking action. Faith is believing enough in something that you are willing to step out, take a risk, and take action, believing for a good outcome. Dreams, visions, and goals are great things, but unless you put action plans in place they are worthless. In this episode we talk about taking action on the things in your heart.
The post 061 – Unless You Take Action, Your Dream is Worthless appeared first on Calibrate360.
Discover your purpose and the value you are to contribute to the world. In this episode we discuss your purpose zone discovered at the intersection of passion, proficiency, and the pain in the world you are compelled to resolve. Discover Your Purpose at the Intersection of Passion, Proficiency, & Pain Sooner or later we have […]
The post 060 – Discover Your Purpose at the Intersection of Passion, Proficiency, & Pain appeared first on Calibrate360.
What’s your “why?” What motivates you enough to face the lions in your way? Your “why” motivates you to push through the obstacles? Do you ever get tired of pressing through one obstacle after another? The obstacles are like lions standing between us and our mission. It takes a lot of motivation to push past […]
The post 059 – Is Your “Why” Bigger than the Lions: Overcoming Obstacles appeared first on Calibrate360.
Why do hard things happen to good and faithful people? We know life has a lot of tough stuff, but why is it necessary? As hard as it may be, we need to embrace the difficult things as important and necessary in gaining the best things life has to offer. The tough stuff convinces us […]
The post 058- But Why is the Tough Stuff of Life Necessary? appeared first on Calibrate360.
Taking a leap of faith sounds exciting, but when we enter the reality of life transitions and have to wait we grow anxious and start to doubt our decisions and directions. In this episode, David and Donna interview David Stewart, Jr. about a life transition he began a few years ago when they took a […]
The post 057 – Life Transitions and Leaps of Faith: An Interview with David Stewart, Jr. appeared first on Calibrate360.
Every major life change is accompanied by chaos and anxiety. How can you manage the chaos, stress, and anxiety that comes with exciting new adventures or with the change of unexpected or undesired changes or tragedies? Even in our day to day lives just simply trying to accomplish something of significance, chaos and stress are […]
The post 056 — Overcoming the Anxiety from Your Leap of Faith appeared first on Calibrate360.
We’ve been talking a lot about living the great adventure, taking risks, stepping out in faith, living a joyful life, following your passions, etc. Well, we are leaving our present assignments and stepping out into an exciting future. This episode is about our journey and the reasons for our decision, but we do hope and […]
The post 055 – Our Great Adventure Continues: We Are Stepping Into a New Chapter of Life appeared first on Calibrate360.
Why is hope so important and how do we restore hope when it has been stripped away? Hope is essential to encourage us to keep pressing forward, to “go for it” when the stakes are high, and to reach for the best things in life. Hope encourages us to endure into the design and purpose […]
The post 054 -Restoring Hope When It’s Been Stripped Away appeared first on Calibrate360.
How is it that we can have similar families, similar experiences, similar beliefs, grow up in the same town, and end up in such different places? Accountability in the context of community is so vitally important. In this episode we talk about the importance of accountability and staying intimately connected to the people you love and lead.
The post 053 — How Accountability Can Prevent Devastation in the Lives of Those You Love and Lead appeared first on Calibrate360.
We think of life in terms of the big things, the big chunks, but the accumulation of small but consistent actions are the things that really shape our lives and move us toward who we will be and what we will accomplish. Significance Through Persistence: The Small Things Make the Biggest Difference We talk about […]
The post 052 — Significance Through Persistence: The Small Things Make the Biggest Difference appeared first on Calibrate360.
Sometimes the pieces and parts of our lives seem so random, but what if they actually do fit together? What if those pieces are orchestrated components that, when taken together, give us insight into God’s path for our lives? What are those seemingly random pieces upon which we must focus? Calibrate Life is about aligning […]
The post 051 – Focus on these Seven Things to Discover Your Unique Path appeared first on Calibrate360.
If you’ve been thinking about doing something for a long time, now is the time to look at the actions you need to connect to your dreaming. You have more visions floating around in your head than you will ever accomplish. This is the time to focus all of the pieces and settle on the ONE […]
The post 050 – Listen, Focus, and Go! appeared first on Calibrate360.
We never really know how significant a simple act of kindness will be. Sometimes they go unnoticed and other times they are life changing. It’s not the act of kindness nor the extravagance of the gift or the action that matters so much, what matters most is our passion and love for the recipient. In this […]
The post 049 – Lessons from an Applesauce Cake: How to Change Lives Through Giving appeared first on Calibrate360.
The promise of Emmanuel, God with us, is not only a Christmas story, it is our life and hope. Incarnation was and is about God presenting himself in our context to be with us and reveal himself to us. Christ in you is your opportunity to “be Jesus” in a world that needs him. Jesus is […]
The post 048 – Emmanuel, God With Us: Being Jesus in a Needy World appeared first on Calibrate360.
The things we’ve always done won’t get us to a place we’ve never been. We have to think outside the box, but the problem is the box is magnetic, we are by default pulled back into the status quo, old and comfortable thinking patterns. What do you do when you feel called to something outside […]
The post 047 – Getting Outside the Box appeared first on Calibrate360.
There is a good side to anticipation and a negative side. It creates excitement, but when we anticipate too much it could create limits. When we over anticipate sometimes we craft a future that is based upon our anticipation, which is limited by our wisdom and insight, rather than gradually moving into the better future […]
The post 046 – Don’t Over Anticipate: Looking Forward with Trust and Faith appeared first on Calibrate360.
Holidays are typically focused upon family gatherings and joyous celebrations. As leaders how do we help those who are not feeling “merry” to navigate the holidays? And how do those who are feeling the emotions of loss navigate all of the gatherings and celebrations? In this episode David and Donna talk about both helping others […]
The post 045 – Holidays Can Be Joyous and Challenging: Things to Keep in Mind Regarding Grief and the Holidays appeared first on Calibrate360.
Gratitude is being appreciative of a kindness or a benefit received. It is not about being randomly thankful for every single occurrence in life, but rather, it is an acknowledgement for the things we appreciate. Therefore, the focus is not necessarily thankfulness for the sake of thankfulness, but gratitude for the overall context of blessing […]
The post 044 – The Power of a Grateful Heart… Especially When You Don’t Feel Like it! appeared first on Calibrate360.
Sometimes we have pain and joy at the same time. Walking through times of pain and sorrow is not a departure from a commitment to live a joyful life. We have to keep the good things in focus when we are walking through the worst things. In last week’s podcast we discussed staying in a […]
The post 043 – Living Joyfully While Experiencing Pain and Sorrow appeared first on Calibrate360.
The things we say to ourselves, our self-talk, will effect what we attempt and accomplish in life. If your self-talk is negative, you won’t even try great things. If your self-talk is positive and sane, you will accomplish much in your life and for the Kingdom of God. In this episode, we explore why positive […]
The post 042 – The Importance of Positive Self-Talk to the Joyful Life appeared first on Calibrate360.
Sometimes we press through tunnels because we know joy awaits on the other side. We face a lot of tunnels on the journey of “pressing beyond the tough stuff.” The commitment to living a joyful life is about pressing through the tunnels because we have FAITH and a CONFIDENCE that we will meet joy on […]
The post 041 – Embrace the Tunnels: Braving Dark Places on the Journey appeared first on Calibrate360.
How do we “praise” God? Over time words become just words. For most of my life I’ve said things like, “Oh God, I praise your name.” “I exalt you.” What does that mean? Is that really praise and exultation? “O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for […]
The post Am I Really Praising God, or Am I Just Saying Words? appeared first on Calibrate360.
When you are going somewhere no one’s ever gone before no one else is going to understand. They cannot wrap their head around it. They will project their fear and uncertainty because they love you, but if they’ve never been where you are going, they are not going to understand and they will not be […]
The post 040 – Stop Listening to Everyone and Get on With Your Adventure! appeared first on Calibrate360.
One of the keys to writing is having the right stuff in your heart. You cannot write one thing while being something else. I cannot write as a gracious human being when I am full of criticism and snark. It’s too much work to be one thing and write something else. Writing flows from the […]
The post Go With What God Puts in Your Heart! appeared first on Calibrate360.
We establish patterns in our lives that help us live consistently and naturally. Patterns are important in our personal life and in leadership. We must establish life patterns and we’ve got to be willing to evaluate those patterns when we need to change or go to the next level. In this episode we take a […]
The post 039 – Establishing Life Patterns for Joyful Living appeared first on Calibrate360.
Life is lived in the context of our relationships, and ministry and leadership take place in the context of our relationships. We must make people our priority in living, leading, and loving. Relationships require a great investment with every party having something to give and something to gain in the relationship. Continue reading for the […]
The post 038 – Life and Ministry in the Context of Relationships appeared first on Calibrate360.
Are we supposed to prosper? We sometimes feel guilty when we prosper, or worse, we feel we are unworthy to be successful at the things to which we put our hands. We appreciate the role of adversity in shaping character, but we must also live in the confidence that we can succeed and be prosperous […]
The post 037 – Should We Aspire to Live a Prosperous Life? appeared first on Calibrate360.
Every dream is accompanied by obstacles, things that stand in the way, things that discourage you. Keeping ourselves encouraged while pursing a dream that is bigger than we are is a challenge, but applying these five principles to our thinking will give us lift in going after the fulfillment of our heart passions. (Clicking the […]
The post 036 – Five Ways to Stay Encouraged While Pursuing a Dream appeared first on Calibrate360.
If you are married, your marriage relationship is the most important relationship in your life. It is worthy of calibration. On the occasion of their 3rd anniversary (with a tongue-in-cheek cumulative experience of 67 years), David and Donna discuss 6 marriage calibration points every couple should observe. Listen to the podcast using the player above, […]
The post 035 – Growing Together Instead of Drifting Apart appeared first on Calibrate360.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we just dreamed the dreams and God, or someone, just took all of the responsibility for financing our vision, our great adventure? Everything we want to do in life has to be resourced. Things we dream about, the vision we have for our family and relationships, even the things we […]
The post 034 – Where Do You Get the Money to Accomplish Your Vision? appeared first on Calibrate360.
Passion is a motivator. Passion joyfully pushes us to the limits of our own ability and beyond. Passion stirs something in us that causes us to reach for things that are bigger than we are and a little higher than we can reach. What evokes passion in you? What stirs you up and motivates you to […]
The post 033 – Fire Up Your Passions: Motivation Energizers and Killers appeared first on Calibrate360.
Motivation propels us forward into the future, but when motivation is lacking or lost how do you get it back? Last week we talked about when it is time to quit. In this episode we discuss what to do about a waning motivation. Motivation is ignited by passion and when we lack motivation it is […]
The post 032 – Lost Motivation: How Do You Get it Back? appeared first on Calibrate360.
What do you do when you are in a life season when your dreams, anointing, and strength zones are disconnected from your job or assignment? If you cannot engage you passions and strength zones should you quit? How do you know when its time to change jobs or locations? We explore four necessary seasons of […]
The post 031 – How Will I Know When Its Time to Quit? appeared first on Calibrate360.
The more we mature and develop and come into the purposes of God for our lives, the more we must focus upon our strengths as opposed to our weaknesses. There comes a time when we need to let go of our weaknesses and make investment where we already have strengths. We must continue to calibrate the core. […]
The post 030 – Focus on Your Strength Zone appeared first on Calibrate360.
If you are a Christ following leader, whether in ministry or in the marketplace, you are called to do something more than simply make a living or build commerce. You are called to be a transformational leader. If you are a Christ follower, no matter your leadership arena, you are about the heartbeat of the […]
The post 029 – Living and Leading Out of a Prophetic Vision appeared first on Calibrate360.
I’ve always had a lot of unique thoughts, and I’ve written millions of words in my lifetime. In fact, I’ve written almost a million words in my journal since 2012. I’ve only published a fraction of those words, which is a good thing, but I should have published a lot more of them. One of […]
The post Your Words Are Imperfect and Inadequate – Write Them Anyway appeared first on Calibrate360.
Our stuff, our possessions, can keep us from moving forward into the future, it can stifle our creativity and productivity, and it can anchor us in an unhealthy mentality. Our stuff is intended to facilitate us, to help us, not hinder us or hold us back in any way. Our possessions are tools, and each […]
The post 028 – Finding Joy in the Simplicity of a Decluttered Life appeared first on Calibrate360.
Have you ever thought about getting an annual spiritual alignment? About once a year we take a week out of our schedule to align our life vision with our spiritual life. This spiritual and strategic retreat is essential to calibrating our listening to the Spirit of God and aligning our forward movement according to the […]
The post 027 – Getting an Annual Spiritual Life Alignment appeared first on Calibrate360.
Calibration is adjusting one component or part of our lives, but alignment is getting all of the parts and relationships of our lives moving and working together with laser focus. Our purpose and calling must align with reality. Alignment is essential for our own effectiveness, right and positive influences, for properly pursuing our calling and purposes, […]
The post 026 – Aligning Our Purpose with Reality appeared first on Calibrate360.
Sometimes I am pessimistic for no good reason. It is a sense of impending doom, or that feeling that’s the opposite of well-being. On other days, I am optimistic for no good reason—meaning that today is no different from yesterday and yesterday I was depressed and pessimistic, and today I’m optimistic, so, being that no […]
The post Optimism is a Choice: 4 Things that Change Our Outlook appeared first on Calibrate360.
Alignment is a lot like calibration, the difference is calibration is adjusting one component or part of our lives, but alignment is getting all of the parts and relationships of our lives moving and working together. Alignment is essential for for our own effectiveness, right and positive influences, for properly pursuing our calling and purposes, […]
The post 025 – Alignment in Life and Relationships: Living, Leading, and Loving in the Same Direction appeared first on Calibrate360.
Life can only be experienced and lived in the moment. The past is the foundation for right now and the future is built upon the life we are living right now. When we live life in the past or in the future we sacrifice the joy we should experience right now. How do we embrace […]
The post 024 – Living Life Right Now! appeared first on Calibrate360.
Sometimes we fail to do the things in our heart, to really go for it, or to even start, because of the who-do-you-think-you-are mentality. Fear may hold us back from putting ourselves out there and creating the things we not only feel that we should create, but the things we must create. This is a […]
The post 023 – Beating the Imposter Syndrome appeared first on Calibrate360.
The Power of Shared Experiences Shared experiences cement relationships together and create a foundation for living a joyful life and building out an awesome vision. Whether it be with our spouse, our children, our family, our team, colleagues, or friends, shared experience creates a framework for living and productivity. In this episode David and Donna […]
The post 022 – The Power of Shared Experiences appeared first on Calibrate360.
Joyfully Embracing and Navigating Change Change is a part of life and the way we face it, embrace it, and navigate it will determine the difference between an effective and joyful life and a life held captive by circumstance. Change is an opportunity for transformation, but change is also losing something or someone that makes […]
The post 021 – Joyfully Embracing and Navigating Change appeared first on Calibrate360.
Why Accountability May be the Key to Changing Your Life Accountability really is a key to changing your life. When we are ready to give an answer for our actions and when we assure that accountable structures exist in our lives we are far more likely to accomplish the life change we desire and to […]
The post 020 – Why Accountability May be the Key to Changing Your life appeared first on Calibrate360.
Starting is the one immutable requisite to finishing. I sometimes make life so difficult, so complicated. I have a need to plot, to plan, to figure everything out, but nothing ever happens until I start. I love to write. I used to sit and stare at the screen waiting for an epiphany. Needing inspiration, a direction, a […]
The post The Power of Starting appeared first on Calibrate360.
These 6 traps will cause you to make and perpetuate bad decisions. Overcoming or avoiding these traps will keep you moving forward on the path to the summit of the God-given dreams inside you. In this third episode of this three-part series on making good life and leadership decisions, David and Donna discuss 6 Traps Keeping You from Reaching Your […]
The post 019 – Six Traps Keeping You from Reaching Your Summit appeared first on Calibrate360.
Decisions are a vital part of living a life of purpose, but how do we press beyond the though stuff and make good decisions that will keep us, our organizations, and those we love and lead on track. How do we make good decisions? How do we weigh all the factors in decision-making? In Part Two […]
The post 018 – Six Keys for Making Awesome Life Decisions (Part 2) appeared first on Calibrate360.
Decisions are a vital part of living a life of purpose, but how do we press beyond the though stuff and made great leadership decisions that will keep us, our organizations, and those we love and lead on track. How do we make good decisions? How do we weigh all of the factors in decision-making? […]
The post 017 – 6 Keys to Making Awesome Life and Leadership Decisions appeared first on Calibrate360.
My most treasured attributes, the things that positively make me who I am, those things came from the influence of a totally unnoticible, uninfluential woman that I called “Mom”. Sometimes the greatest thing we do in life is simply the investment we make in someone we love. Though she had only been gone 2 years, […]
The post The Invisible Imprint of Presence: Why I Am Who I Am appeared first on Calibrate360.
We are tempted to relevance, to power, and the desire to do the spectacular. None of these are wrong in and of themselves, but coupled with unexamined motivation any of them can lead to leadership or life disaster. We must couple our desire for significance with the desire for transformation in the lifting of those we […]
The post 016 – Three Critical Temptations Faced by Every Leader appeared first on Calibrate360.
You cannot be coached or led beyond the borders of your faith. If you don’t believe, you cannot step into your desired and directed future. So, how do we enlarge the borders of our faith? Through experience, inspiration, revelation, and trust, spiritual leadership can calibrate belief and develop the courage to step into God’s design for […]
The post 015 – Calibrate Belief: Expanding the Borders of Your Faith appeared first on Calibrate360.
You really cannot fulfill your vision, your personal growth will be severely stunted, and your life will be out of whack, unless you have and engage in a community. Relationships nurtured in a community are especially vital for spiritual leadership. How do I engage in community? Why is community important to my spirituality, growth, and fulfillment […]
The post 014 – Why Community is Essential for Life Calibration, Growth, and Vision Fulfillment appeared first on Calibrate360.
Connecting to a community is essential to our calibration, health, and growth as spiritual leaders and as Christ followers. Why do some have such a hard time connecting, fitting in, and finding a community? How does relational disconnection stunt our spirituality, growth and vision. In part one of this podcast, David and Donna focus upon […]
The post 013 – Why Community is Absolutely Essential for Spiritual Life and Leadership appeared first on Calibrate360.
Sometimes I ask myself the question, “Why do I believe in God?” I have doubts like everyone else, but I always come back to one simple reason. Here is my journal entry from this Easter Sunday morning. I decided I wanted to share it with you. He is risen… he is risen indeed! I woke […]
The post Why I Believe in God appeared first on Calibrate360.
Life doesn’t always turn out the way we hope it will, but life is a great adventure to be lived out and enjoyed. How do we step into our great adventure? This episode of the Calibrate Life podcast was recorded canal side in Venice, Italy as David and Donna talk about six life calibration decisions […]
The post 012 – The Great Adventure: Six Things You Must Do to Step into Your Great Adventure appeared first on Calibrate360.
Relationships are the context for life, leadership, and ministry. Relationships don’t have an auto-pilot, they require ongoing calibration. They can bring us the greatest joys or the greatest heartaches. Have you ever thought about things you would like to do differently, if you had a chance. David and Donna talk about calibrating one of our […]
The post 011 – Calibrating the Marriage Relationship: Investing in Healthy Relationships appeared first on Calibrate360.
We all desire clarity of vision and direction for the future. Clarity is important for decisiveness. It’s much easier to move boldly into the future when we have a clear picture in our spirit, mind, and soul. But what about those times when everything is foggy except for the next few steps? Trust is far […]
The post 010 – Why Trust is More Important than Clarity: Choosing the Right Path in the Fog appeared first on Calibrate360.
I’ve been reading a lot of blogs, articles, books, the latest and greatest you-should-do-this or buy-this resources, and listening to a lot of podcasts, in fact I regularly throw my own stuff in the mix… yep, I own it, I am a blogger, I am a podcaster, I am a writer, I have a lot […]
The post 8 Filters I Use to Determine the Content I Allow to Influence Me appeared first on Calibrate360.
Emotional calibration is important for leaders. One of the best ways to re-calibrate emotionally is by taking a break and doing something you enjoy. Making a commitment to joyful living means sometimes taking the time to enjoy life. In this episode of Calibrate Life we discuss the emotional health of spiritual leaders and the necessity of just having fun, […]
The post 009 – 4 Ways to Give Yourself a Break: Calibrating Your Emotional Life Through Enjoyment appeared first on Calibrate360.
We are all different in our personality, the way we are wired, and the way we communicate. We uniquely connect with God according to our gifts, our personality, our calling, and who God made us to be. In this episode of Calibrate Life, we encourage spiritual leaders to follow their own unique path in how they […]
The post 008 – Connecting at the Next Level: Uniquely Calibrating Your Spiritual Life appeared first on Calibrate360.
In this episode, David and Donna consider the calibration of our physical lives, the importance of exercise in managing stress and anxiety, and how it is important to maintaining energy levels necessary to fulfill long-range vision. Modeling physical fitness is an important part of spiritual leadership, and this episode will give you practical pointers for both lifting your level […]
The post 007 – Calibrating our Physical Fitness: Managing Stress and Anxiety Through Exercise appeared first on Calibrate360.
We have to have right and positive thinking before we can live, lead, and love the way God intended. In this episode of the Calibrate Life Podcast, David and Donna talk about calibrating our thinking to lift ourselves and to coach and mentor those we love and lead. If you think negatively, you will get […]
The post 006 – Cultivating Right Thinking and Leading Out of a Positive Mindset appeared first on Calibrate360.
Living a joyful life requires the passionate pursuit of the things most important to us. In this podcast, David and Donna talk about structuring your life to fulfill your passions. We can’t get caught up in strategy, because strategies should simply serve our passions; rather, we should joyfully pursue building into our lives the things […]
The post 005 – Building a Joyful Life: How to Structure Your Life to Fulfill Your Passions appeared first on Calibrate360.
I am going to stop looking for the finish line; rather, I’m going to live life as though it never ends. I will be mindful of seasons and transitions and will observe and honor them. Death is merely one of the certain transitions, but life is forever. One of my core values is keeping my […]
The post Our Journey, Our Transitions, and Our Transformation appeared first on Calibrate360.
What are five essential elements for living a joyful life and living life to the fullest. In this episode of the Calibrate Life Podcast David and Donna discuss how living with passion, pursuing healthy relationships, adequately resourcing our vision, staying healthy and energetic, and being productive really does lift us in our commitment to living a […]
The post 004 – Five Essential Elements for Living a Joyful Life and Living Life to the Fullest appeared first on Calibrate360.
Did you ever wish you had a do over? I don’t have many regrets, but I have a few and all of them relate to something I would have done differently in a relationship had I known then what I know now. Yes, we would all be billionaires and a lot of other things had we […]
The post Things I’m Doing Differently the Second Time Around appeared first on Calibrate360.
Authenticity and transparency are important in leadership. When we strip off the varnish and live life according to our own uniqueness we help those we love and lead embrace healing and wholeness in their own lives. In this episode of The Calibrate Life Podcast, David and Donna explore the power of living and leading authentically […]
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Have you ever been stuck, felt paralyzed, and you found yourself in a place where you just could not move forward. In this episode of the podcast, David and Donna talk about times they’ve been stuck and some of the leadership lessons they’ve learned to help them move forward. [0:30] At Calibrate360 we talk a lot […]
The post 002 – How to Move Forward When You are Stuck: Coaching Yourself and Those You Lead to Take Action appeared first on Calibrate360.
Life calibration is necessary for living, leading, and loving with joy. In this episode, David and Donna discuss the importance of life calibration and how to calibrate360. David and Donna are launching the Calibrate Life leadership podcast. In this very first episode we will explore the life calibration necessary for pressing beyond the tough stuff […]
The post 001: Calibrate Your Life appeared first on Calibrate360.
You had a revelation. You wrote it down. You were excited. Then perfectionism and the fear of criticism caused you to edit it down until it lost its unique value. Instead of the valuable gem you started with, you were left with an idea stripped of its power, or worse, you gave up and never executed. I am not a baker, […]
The post Stop Overthinking and Finish! appeared first on Calibrate360.
I am a prophetic being. Not the kind that can tell the future, but I do usually know the next step, the next creative step issued by the heartbeat of the Father, and I lean into that. I think you know your next step too! Sometimes we feel it should be different. We sometimes feel we […]
The post Reasons to Wait for Open Doors appeared first on Calibrate360.
Do you need a little Christmas joy? Though the holidays are hard for some, I love Christmas because it reminds me of Emmanuel, God With Us. I love colored lights, I love boxes, and packages, and bows. I love Christmas trees and ornaments. I love all the little things that remind me of family times and […]
The post God With Us! appeared first on Calibrate360.
I love Christmas; It’s the holiday season I’m not so sure about. No this isn’t a rant about shopping, but thoughts about the holidays for those who have recently, and not so recently, lost someone they love. [shareable]Holidays are both joyous and challenging.[/shareable] Losing someone is losing a piece of your world that you will never […]
The post Things to Keep in Mind Regarding Grief and the Holidays appeared first on Calibrate360.
I woke up in the middle of the night last night to a gently scolding revelation. Arrogance is a hinderance from releasing the good stuff inside me. What?!? Yep, when we fail to release the gold inside us because we constantly question its worth, that could be arrogance. Humility is necessary to rightly release the good things in us […]
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Standing in the hallway of St. Vincent’s Hospital exactly 4 years ago, I thought about many of the things in our lives that were about to change. I did not anticipate that everything would change. That first night I went to bed alone trying to wrap my head around what had just happened. I woke up […]
The post When Everything Changes appeared first on Calibrate360.
You can’t live joyfully if you blame yourself, and others for that matter, for everything bad that’s happened. Stuff happens and it is incumbent upon us to live beyond the tough stuff. When Joyce, my wife died I blamed myself at first. I think all of us who have lost someone in an untimely way […]
The post Giving Yourself Permission to Move Beyond Blame appeared first on Calibrate360.
It is not so much the path upon which we find ourselves that matters, what matters most is how we choose to walk the path. In this we accept the path’s reality, we embrace God’s sovereignty, we rejoice in redemption… and we keep walking out our place in life. [shareable]It is not so much the […]
The post What Do You Do When You Have No Choice? appeared first on Calibrate360.
How do you re-engage a joyful life when joy has been stripped away? We are committed to the pursuit of a joyful life. Boldness is actually required for joyful living. We will boldly pursue joy! People mean well. They want to make us aware of how things should be. They want to help us clarify our obligations […]
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When you see obstacles, odds, and enemies larger than your own resources — do not be afraid. I am at a men’s prayer summit this week. I decided I would do a post every morning related to what I’m “hearing” and “seeing.” I am a recovering perfectionist, so shooting from the hip is hard for […]
The post Going to Battle for the Vision appeared first on Calibrate360.
I’ve always lacked boldness… that’s a nice way of saying I’m a natural born coward. I care about what others think, this is a strength. I am influenced too much by what others MIGHT think, this is a weakness. Some people think I’m intimidating, I can be, but on the inside I want everyone to […]
The post Unapologetically and Boldly Stepping into Your Calling appeared first on Calibrate360.
Outcomes are not my responsibility. I am at a men’s “prayer summit” this week and I will post a few thoughts from the “summit.” This is some quick hits of things I’m thinking about this week. It is important to pull back from routine regularly and calibrate. This thought has come to me consistently and almost […]
The post The Outcome Isn’t My Responsibility appeared first on Calibrate360.
One of the keys to loving the “twists” in life is embracing their divine nature. Besides, most of the good things in life come from the “twists” in life’s road. Deo Volente,” it is a Latin phrase meaning “God willing.” A century ago, it was common to include the initials D.V. at the bottom of a […]
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Donna and I have both had to walk through a rebuilding of our faith. Our former definition of faith was something like, “believing that God will do anything you direct him to do because you are his favorite person.” Ummm… not exactly… The Scriptures are always quite clear that we are to be seekers of God’s will […]
The post I Will Believe Again appeared first on Calibrate360.
We love the thought of being in the game, but when our moment comes we shrink back because of the times we dropped the ball, the times others ridiculed us, the times when our best was not good enough. The only way we courageously take a risk is when the thought of the desired outcome […]
The post The Power of Encouragement appeared first on Calibrate360.
You can’t move from one world to another world unless you are willing to let go of the former to reach for the future. We’ve applied what we’ve learned in grief to life’s big picture. When our spouses died, Donna and I each lost more than a person, we also lost our world as it […]
The post Learning to Risk appeared first on Calibrate360.
I’ve always needed to learn to relax. I’ve always been too uptight and worried. Part of learning to TRUST God is relaxing and living in your own skin. I don’t do this often, but this is a direct excerpt from my journal about relaxing and trusting God. It is very reflective, and not polished, so […]
The post Trust: Chasing Flashes in the Darkness appeared first on Calibrate360.
In preparation for our sabbatical I asked my friends to pray for us that God would give us clarity. In my mind I wanted clarity for the future, but that’s not what I really needed–I needed a deeper level of trust. Yes, we did need clarity of mind so we could clearly hear the directions of the Father as he […]
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What sets my agenda? What guides my days? The way I spend my days eventually shapes my life and legacy, so, I need to control what shapes my days. I’ve noticed, as I’ve waded into sabbatical, that I keep picking up my phone and looking at it. My email is shut down, my phone number […]
The post Wag the Dog: Manage the Agenda appeared first on Calibrate360.
The personal integrity of politicians, preachers, and other community leaders is everyone’s business because it affects the integrity of government, the church, and other organizations necessary for the health and wholeness of a community, nation, and world. Yesterday Donna and I were watching an episode of the Lone Ranger. I think it safe to say that […]
The post A Leader’s Personal Integrity is Public appeared first on Calibrate360.
Your God-given dreams are YOUR responsibility. You have to steward your dreams. You cannot expect someone else to make it happen for you. There are 5 areas of maturity that we must cultivate to properly go forward with purpose. This is my second post about pursuing our dreams and our purpose. Lately, that’s been a very important […]
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Life has knocked my dreams off track so many times. There’s a lot of stuff, big stuff inside me. Stuff I believe is from God. Dreams that are more than wishes, dreams that are deeply connected to my purpose for being on this earth. When will I start again? Right now! Before we can change something, do something […]
The post Keeping the Dream Alive: Right Now! appeared first on Calibrate360.
Every difficult life experience affects us, it affects the way we “walk”. Sometimes a loss or a wound is so great that it affects every single step we take for the rest of our lives. I feel that way. But when the Spirit of God breathes upon us, gets under our wings and lifts us […]
The post Living Beyond the Tough Stuff appeared first on Calibrate360.
If I want the results I want, I have to do the things that create those results. Sabbath is one of the things that I have to contend for in my life: Our body, soul, and spirit need refreshing regularly or we will fry. I strive to align life and leadership by resting once in a […]
The post Excuses Don’t Get You Closer appeared first on Calibrate360.
Perfectionism is my greatest obstacle to accomplishing anything. Excellence challenges me to do things right, perfectionism challenges me to do nothing unless it meets nearly impossible standards. There is a difference between excellence and perfection. Excellence challenges me to do things right. It challenges me to grow. Perfectionism challenges me to not do anything unless it […]
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Dad taught me the power of believing in myself. Mom taught me the power of believing in God. Mom taught me to pursue the Presence of God and Dad taught me how to develop processes to implement and execute vision. I am so weary of those who focus solely on plans and strategies to sucessfully […]
The post Mom Taught Presence, Dad Taught Process appeared first on Calibrate360.
Leading those we love into the unfamiliar is a necessary challenge. We can’t climb higher, go further, or discover new possibilities unless we move into the unfamiliar. I married a coffee snob. Having spent a few years becoming accustomed to the strong European brews in Belgium, Folgers just doesn’t cut it for her. Donna and I […]
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How do you know if you are following the right agenda? I want to follow “God’s agenda”, but sometimes what I really want is God’s approval of my own agenda. Funny how God’s voice and my voice can sound a lot alike. (NOTE: Spirituality is important and is one of the big 5 for this blog: Spiritual Life, Self-Leadership, Life-Management, Relationships, and […]
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We are catalysts who cause people to pursue and fulfill their purpose. Yes, that’s right, to cause people to fulfill their purpose! To cause is to make something happen. As spiritual and transformational leaders we would make ourselves crazy if we took responsibility for fulfilling the dreams of others. No one needs that kind of pressure; yet, we not only can cause people to fulfill […]
The post Causing Transformation appeared first on Calibrate360.
Every relationship in our lives ought to be a transformational relationship; transformational for the person we invest in and transformational for us. Funny thing, when we invest in someone we cause transformation in them, but we are usually the ones who are changed. Following are 4 necessary components for investing in people: Investing in others […]
The post Passionately Investing in Others appeared first on Calibrate360.
I started experimenting with blogging and podcasting around 2006, but with seven subscribers my motivation was low. The mediums were in their infancy, but I wasn’t sure of their value. It would have been great had I started and stayed consistent at that time–but I didn’t. I never really sincerely started, I felt I should […]
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This has been a long time coming… life happens… stuff happens… But I am back in the game and launching on June 1. I will be changing up the format and tweaking the focus, but in case you accidentally landed here… that’s the plan!
The post Update: Launching on June 1, 2015 appeared first on Calibrate360.