• Bible Studies

    Joshua 5

    1. The people have crossed and it could not be better for them given the morale of the Canaanites. “Now when all the Amorite Kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the seacoast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over, their hearts sank and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.” Where have we read that before? Just earlier, when the two spies had gone into the land and stayed with Rahab she told them that “a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country…

  • Bible Studies

    Crossing The Jordan: Joshua 3-4

    1. Forty years ago, Moses sent spies into Canaan and you remember their report? “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large…The land we explored devours those living in it…We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” Only two of those spies disagreed and are here alive today – Caleb and Joshua. The other ten died with the generation wandering in the desert. In fact, forty years after that first inspection Joshua sent two spies into the…

  • Bible Studies

    Joshua 1:1-18

    1.  Begin with reality. Max DePree, the former CEO of Herman Miller and author of “Leadership Is An Art” has said many times that a leader’s first responsibility is to define reality. He is right. Have you seen the picture of the bicycle that was left leaning against a tree in Washington State and, decades later, it had become part of the tree and was in the trunk seven feet off the ground. When problems are unaddressed or change is resisted organizations can become like that. We simply work around things over time. Most unreality starts with the leadership not accepting change. The auto industry is a good example. RIM/Blackberry…

  • Fred's Blog

    Keeping a Soft Heart in Hard Times

    I love the martial arts choreography in movies like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. I asked a black belt friend how he hardened his hands for real (not staged) competition. It seemed easy enough. Set up a five-gallon bucket of white rice and punch your hands in it 10-12 times in a row five times a day. When that no longer hurts use a five-gallon bucket of dry beans for several weeks and then graduate to five gallons of sand. While it takes time to become hardened it is a simple process. My martial arts friend cautioned me, “Be careful. The process is irreversible once the calluses are there…and you could really…

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