Empathy & Compassion
The Compassionate Boxer

The Compassionate Boxer

Would you like to grow in relational wisdom? If so, please take a few minutes to watch a brief clip from the movie, Cinderella Man, which is packed with some of the best examples of relational wisdom I've ever seen. Russell Crowe plays the part of a real life hero...

Spanglish – The Secret of Being Influential

Spanglish – The Secret of Being Influential

Today's post features a 3-minute video clip that illustrates amazing relational wisdom, including empathy, self-control and the brilliant use of a single perceptive question that penetrates a teenage girl's heart and changes the course of her life. These are the kinds...

I Was an Embarrassment to My Friends

I Was an Embarrassment to My Friends

C.S. Lewis and I have something in common: there was a time when each of us became an embarrassment to our friends. Lewis endured this uncomfortable experience after his wife, Joy, died. Here is what he wrote in A Grief Observed: “An odd by-product of my loss is that...

Six Ways to Defeat Loneliness at Christmas

Six Ways to Defeat Loneliness at Christmas

Three weeks before Christmas, Wolfgang Dircks died while watching television. His body wasn’t discovered until five years later. None of the neighbors in his apartment complex noticed the absence of the 43-year-old. His rent continued to be paid automatically out of...

Papa, Clean Me!

Papa, Clean Me!

When he was two-and-half-years-old, my grandson, Andrew, came across a fresh pile of dog poo in the yard. Having been told repeatedly to stay away from dog piles, he of course felt an irresistible desire to step on it and squish it around. Not liking the odor, he...

Are You Relational or Informational?

Are You Relational or Informational?

  Many pastors are much better at imparting information than they are at building relationships. They are comfortable in their studies. They love their books. They pride themselves on their sound doctrine. They come alive in the pulpit as they proclaim “the...

The Power of Words

The Power of Words

Do you want to learn how to connect with people? Really connect? To touch others heart-to-heart, life-to-life? To convince them you understand and care about them? To move them toward actions that are right and good and pleasing to God? Then learn how to connect with...

The Compassionate Boxer

The Compassionate Boxer

Cinderella Man is packed with examples of relational wisdom. Russell Crowe plays the part of a real life hero named James J. Braddock. Once a successful heavyweight boxer, Braddock was reduced to poverty by a broken hand and the Great Depression.  After losing their...