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49 Identity Messages Your Kids Need to Know

Do your kids – or students, neighbors, nephews, nieces, or grandchildren – know who they are? Do you know who you are? Not know as in I-understand-this-in-my-brain, but know as in I-live-into-this-truth-more-each-day.

Do you want your kids to know who they are or just what they are supposed to do?

A while back I wrote a post about five simple ways to connect your kids with the Bible as school starts. (Feel free to give it a read. I’ll wait.) While our family has done all of these in some form, the “new one” that Kari and I have been implementing is taping a Bible verse right in the middle of the bathroom mirror for the kids to see when they wake up. [Read more…] about 49 Identity Messages Your Kids Need to Know

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Strong, Firm & Steadfast. Always.

Unless this is the first post on this blog you’ve ever read, you’ve likely heard me use the word “identity.” It is something I am passionate about, because it is foundational to every aspect of how we live. It’s also something every one of us struggles with.

Strong, Firm, & Steadfast...Always (Guest Post by Michele Cushatt)
Find this photo at Lightstock.com

When it comes to shaping our identity in the person and work of Jesus, I could think of no one better to share with you than my friend Michele Cushatt. She understands the “identity struggle” first hand. Without giving away her story (which you can read in her book Undone), Michele knows what it’s like to have faith in Jesus, lose her footing, and to wonder if she’d ever again be able to stand. She also know what it’s like to cry out to God for grace and discover the miracle of His Presence and His Purpose right here, right now.

Michele has been a friend for more than a decade. She also happens to be one of the most beautifully authentic people I know. And as you’re about to discover, she is a fabulous writer. [Read more…] about Strong, Firm & Steadfast. Always.

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5 Simple Ways to Connect Your Kids With the Bible As School Starts

Are your kids in school yet? Some of you started almost a month ago. (Sorry.) Our kids started yesterday.

The start of school is always hectic. Here are some simple ideas for making sure the Bible doesn't get lost in the craziness.

NOTE: I have updated and re-posted this each of the last few years. This year, I have included a free PDF that takes these principles and put them into an applicable-all-year-round format so you can use it and share it anytime. I’ve also included a link to my eBook – 49 Identity Messages Your Kids Need to Know – that goes along with #1. I’d love to hear how you’re making the connection between your kids, the Bible, and school in the comments below. Enjoy!


If I had to choose one word to describe the first month of the school year it would be: HECTIC.

The pace is insane, isn’t it? Here’s a glimpse at life with the Ferrin Five:

  • Two kids in middle school.
  • A third in elementary school (with a different start/end time of course).
  • Three soccer teams.
  • A wife who teaches kindergarten.
  • My busiest travel season of the year.
  • Squeezed in between we all have to eat, clean, do laundry, etc., etc.

As I said…HECTIC. Where does the Bible fit into all this? Especially for our kids?! For me, I can get up early and grab some coffee, my Bible, and a corner of the couch. But I want my kids to connect with God and His Word as well. So…what can we do? [Read more…] about 5 Simple Ways to Connect Your Kids With the Bible As School Starts

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8 Identity Messages to Help You Live in Freedom

Do you know who you really are? Maybe a better question is: “Do you live from a place of knowing who you are?”

[featured-image single_newwindow=”true” alt=”Do you know WHO you are? There are 65 identity messages in Ephesians. Here are 8 that will help you live in freedom.”]

Sitting on the plane, I slowly read through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. What normally takes 15-20 minutes took me over an hour. Every time I got to a verse, sentence, or phrase that spoke of identity, I jotted it down.

Little did I know the final count of “identity messages” in Ephesians would be 65!

Yes. Sixty-Five times Paul reminds the Ephesians – and us – of our identity in Christ. Both who we are in Christ and what we have been given through Christ. I am convinced that if we lived from a place of identity – rather than morality – everything would be different…and infinitely better.

If we live from a place of identity – rather than morality – everything will be different…and…

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Today, let’s look at eight. Not because these are the eight “big ones.” All 65 happen to be life-changingly-awesome. These are simply the eight God has me hunkered down on today. [Read more…] about 8 Identity Messages to Help You Live in Freedom

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The 3 Lies That Are Making You Feel Overwhelmed

The first woman had been in ministry for five months. The second was in her 20th year. Both were feeling the exact same way. Overwhelmed.

Are you feeling overwhelmed? If so, it's likely because you're believing one of these three lies.
Photo courtesy of Fototlia-©-carballo

I haven’t been able to get these two women out of my mind.

It’s probably because overwhelmed would be a good descriptor for most people I know (not just people in “ministry” or the guy writing this blog post).

Are you…

…an overwhelmed parent?

…an overwhelmed pastor?

…an overwhelmed teacher?

…an overwhelmed employee?

…an overwhelmed executive?

Feeling overwhelmed is not the exception these days. It’s the rule. (Heavy sigh.)

In the last week since these conversations took place, I’ve been pondering what leads to the overwhelmed-ness that seems to mark our lives.

The longer I ponder, the more clearly I see the direct correlation between how much I believe three lies and how overwhelmed I feel. (This is certainly not an exhaustive list. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.) [Read more…] about The 3 Lies That Are Making You Feel Overwhelmed

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An Interview I Did On Finding My Own Identity

Occasionally you meet someone who just oozes Jesus all over the place. My friend, Tamara Buchan, is one of those people. You can’t be around her without wanting to know Jesus the way she knows Jesus.

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000039_00072] She is currently putting the finishing touches on an updated version of her book Identity Crisis: Reclaim the True You. I will do a full review on it when it’s done early 2013.

For now, she is filling her blog with interviews about how people found, lost, or re-discovered their identity.

Today, the interview on Tamara’s blog is about my own identity discovery…and some challenging scenes from my life’s story.

About a month ago, Tamara was up in Seattle and we sat in a coffee shop for the better part of two hours. We could have easily talked for a couple more. Tamara has a way of seeing things, asking things, and processing things that is truly a gift.

So…no post from me today. I’d love for you to jump on over to Tamara’s blog, read the interview, and share your thoughts about your own identity and how you discovered it…or re-discovered it…or are searching for it…

Tamara Buchan's Family
Tamara’s amazing family!

A little about Tamara:

Tamara Buchan has many identities:  wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, pastor, friend, speaker and author. But she has discovered her true identity comes from a place of being adopted by a loving Father into his family and knowing she lives in a royal family where she is taught to reign.

She shares this truth through her book – Identity Crisis: Reclaim the True You – as she inspires and equips readers to journey through a transformational identity journey.  She moves with disarming honesty as she recounts her own struggles which led her to realize the depth of the battle for our identity.  Tamara opens our minds to realize our earthly circumstances pale in comparison to our heavenly reality. And when we step into “our true you,” we actually discover how to live the abundant life Jesus promised.

Photo Credit: Used by permission from Tamara J. Buchan.