Blog

A Listening Mistake

By John Certalic on August 21, 2019 0

A missionary and You Were Made for This listener texted me recently.

“Did you ever hit times where you were tired of ‘worrying about your kids? I’m at that point this morning.”

I responded with “Sometimes its hard to turn off the worry, isn’t it?”

The listener wrote back: “Yes it is. Thank you for not saying ‘JUST pray about it'☺️.”

Yikes. They must have heard this before and it didn’t go well. I could easily have irritated this listener with advice like JUST pray about it. I’ve done so before. The advice could be a good response in a different situation. But certainly not this one. At this time.

I can smell the pungent odor of JUST that I think so bothered the listener. JUST pray about it can come across as: [Read more…] about A Listening Mistake

7 ways to listen better

By John Certalic on August 14, 2019 0

In workshops I give about building better relationships, a key module I cover is listening. It’s one of my favorite subjects. I love to talk about listening.

I sometimes read the “Please Listen” poem you can see below. It’s a bit dated, as you can tell from the reference to 20 cent newspapers, along with a view of God I don’t agree with. But I do resonate with everything else said about listening.

I count at least 7 ways to listen well, which is such an important component of good relationships. How many can you find in the poem? [Read more…] about 7 ways to listen better

The Neglected Relationship Right in Front of Us

By John Certalic on August 7, 2019 0

There’s one relationship we all have that’s often neglected. It’s our relationship with our self. To relate well with our self is to be self-aware, and to every now and then ask, “Am I truly the person I think I am?”

The Apostle Paul speaks to this in Romans 12:3 “…I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in evaluation of yourselves…” (NLT)

Here's an example of someone who understood this; someone who had great self-awareness. [Read more…] about The Neglected Relationship Right in Front of Us

The One Thing I Did Not Forget

By John Certalic on July 31, 2019 0

I found a relationship poem in a leadership book I came across a number of years ago. I forgot everything else I read in that book, except the poem entitled “Threads.”

Odd, isn’t it? A poem about leadership? To be a poet of any worth one needs to be a keen observer of people. This particular poem says the same is true of being a good leader. [Read more…] about The One Thing I Did Not Forget

Something So Simple

By John Certalic on July 24, 2019 0

Janet and I always look forward to our missionary friends from South America coming into town every three years or so on their home assignment. We’ve known this couple for decades; decades they’ve spent planting and supporting tribal churches along the Amazon River in Brazil.

While at lunch with them recently they mentioned how much they enjoy my You Were Made for This podcast.

Houston, We Have a Problem

“We haven’t listened to all the episodes yet because of the slow Internet service in our little town near the border of Peru. Sometimes we get up at 2am to download episodes when the Internet is more reliable. Then we'll listen to them later on our computer. We can only download a few at a time..”

Hmm. After a long pause I said, [Read more…] about Something So Simple

A Haunting Email

By John Certalic on July 17, 2019 0

I received this email arrived recently from one of our podcast listeners, who also happens to be a personal friend. She wrote:

I can’t stop listening to your podcasts. They make me smile. I can’t stop thinking that had I listened to these 4 years ago I would still be happily married… Maybe you are helping other people stay happily married. Keep up the good work. My love to you and Janet!

My heart sank when I read this. On the one hand, [Read more…] about A Haunting Email