Last night I looked around the room once again. I’ve been catching myself doing it for over 20 years. Some of the faces have changed, but what I’m about to say never has.

Grace, if nothing else, you’d think, would give us the ability to tell others we love when we’re hurting. We make the statement “What if there were a place so safe that the worst of you could be known, and you’d discover that you would not be loved less but more in the telling of it?” Oh, how I love that statement. I love how God has wired it to be so.

Thanksgiving Day 1970 was not a good one in the Lynch home. Dad and I were not in a good place. By 17, I had developed into a fast talking, rebellious punk, with a sharp, clever and sarcastic vocabulary and attitude.

I spoke last week at a wonderful Arts Conference at Woodmen Valley Church in Colorado. I quoted a snippet by the 14thcentury philosopher Machiavelli from his work “The Prince”. Bruce McNicol handed me the quote long ago.

Several weeks ago I was on facebook, instant messaging with a really funny and great guy named Dave Burchett.  He’s a writer, blogger and television producer for the Texas Rangers baseball games. Anyway, in the middle of our conversation he wrote these words: “Hey John, my 1-year Grace Anniversary was this week.” I stopped typing, took my hands off the keyboard and just smiled. My friend gets it.

I know a really neat high school student in our church. Recently she was spending the weekend with a friend and visited that friend’s church. Early the following week I received a text that she’d like to speak to me about the message.

My wife Kelsie and I were comparing notes last night after 6 days away with high school students in San Diego. As we continued to roll out our memories, ask each other questions, and reminisce on our favorite times something was apparent; with 10-15 camps in our rear view, we had never experienced a week like this. We sat on our couch too tired to move but unable to stop talking when Kelsie said, “Our kids were so benefited from you working at Truefaced.”I filtered that statement for a minute as...

This morning on my run in the desert mountains I was asking myself, “What’s a diamond ring mean to the typical married woman?” Treasure beyond price. So, why did Lisa give hers away to start a prosthetics ministry for the maimed children of blood diamond country, Sierra Leone? And, this.

Last weekend, our TrueFaced/Catalyst team offered a marriage retreat for business and professional couples, from their 20′s to their 60′s. One of the last persons I talked to said to me, “For the first time in several years, I have hope for our family.” This couple has been through many Bible studies and even more sermons during those years. They have generously served many people during those times.