As I’ve been leaning into the new year, one of the themes that has emerged for me is love. Specifically, love people. 

For insight and wisdom into love, what better passage to turn to than 1 Corinthians 13? Last week, I took some time in my journal to type up the simple phrases from verses 4-7. We’ll get to that in a minute. But first…

In Peterson’s Message version of verses 1-3, it says that without love we are:

• The creaking of a rusty gate.
• Nothing.
• Bankrupt.
...

A new year has begun. A new decade is here. I’ll turn 59 this year. Part of me still feels thirty-something inside, but my body reminds me more and more often that I really am in my late fifties. 

Aging sometimes makes me nervous, even fearful. There’s a far better chance that I’m in two-thirds life rather than midlife at this point. (There’s always the thin chance that I’ll end up breaking the world record for longevity!).

But you know what the good news is...

Rick Warren once said that life is like the parallel rails of a train track. Just like the two tracks, the good and the hard parts of life often occur at the same time. 

Around the same time as the release of Rick’s Purpose Driven Life, his wife, Kay, was diagnosed with cancer. Two rails in action: the exploding popularity of a book alongside a devastating diagnosis.

You’ve probably noticed this over the course of your own life--the disorientation of incredible grace...

In An Unhurried Leader, one of my favorite chapters is titled “Questions That Unhurry Leaders.” It’s rooted in the Romans 8 passage that ends in these memorable lines:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

So nothing can actually...

Happy New Year! I’ve been enjoying the holiday season this last month, including some time with extended family. A few days ago I was having a conversation with my mother-in-law about end-of-life decisions. She is 78 and so it is appropriate to be thinking about, and planning for, such things.

In addition, Alan and I had an appointment with our financial planner and he raised these kinds of questions with us—What about your will? Who has access to it? Does your family know what...

We have all felt embarrassed, humiliated or ashamed one time or another, and questioned our identity in those moments. Today on the podcast, we’re looking at the vulnerability that accompanies those dynamics and how Jesus himself can meet us there.

When we think about this question of identity, we envision a simple dot in the center of a dotted circle going around it’s periphery. The dot at the center is our actual, simple identity as beloved sons and daughters of God. The dotted...

Alan and I recently celebrated our 33^rdwedding anniversary. About three weeks ago, I wrote a beautiful tribute to our long time love and sent it out to our email community (it's also in this blog post). A week and a half later, we went on a celebratory trip that ended with us not speaking to each other on the plane all the way home. We’ll share the whole story with you today on the Unhurried Living Podcast!

Let’s begin by letting you know that in our very own Mission Statement we...

We talk to so many people who struggle with finding the time to engage in the spiritual practices they long for. I know that your day may feel like it is flying by and you don’t have any choices in your schedule. However, most of you can find just a few minutes to pause, close your eyes and gather your heart, mind and attention.

I am going to share with you another prayerful practice you can use in the middle of a busy day to help you become present and remember that God is with you....

In these weeks following Easter, our church community has been focusing on “Resurrection: A New Life of Love.” The essence of the risen life is love. Living a risen life is living in Jesus’ way of love.

We live in Southern California, and it can be a very hurried place. I have a little made up word to describe one way I experience the chronic hurry of our region.

The word is “gronk.” “It is a contraction of green and honk, and it represents the nanosecond...

Alan Fadling talks with James Bryan Smith about his latest book, The Magnificent Story. We unpack what it means that the gospel of Jesus is good, beautiful and true here and now, not just someday.

James Bryan Smith is the author of the trilogy: The Good and Beautiful God, The Good and Beautiful Life, and The Good and Beautiful Community. He is a theology professor at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. He also serves as the director of the Apprentice Institute for Christian...