Q on queue Brian Querry

Every day it seems like there are more and more things in life to pull us off track - things and experiences and people and situations that take us off course and stop us from achieving our objectives and goals.  Some of our lives have SOOO much.  I think about my own responsibilities - as a father, a band director, an educator, a composer, a church musician, a radio news reporter - I have so many things to do for so many people.  These things can only be successful with a plan, and most importantly with boundaries.  

In this first episode of our new "Back to Basics" series,  we talk about going back to basics with boundaries in our lives.  Why are boundaries important and is it really easy to set them and maintain them at the most basic of levels?  

When we know our true identity in Christ, why do we pretend to be something we’re not?  The fact is that all of us wear some type of mask, whether it's to hide something or to fit in or to pretend to be something we're not.  This week, we talk about the dangers of those masks, how masks were a part of the Easter story, and why it's so important to tear them off and break them to be the authentic person God called us to be.

Today we begin our series "Three Images of Easter" with an episode entitled "The Mirror".  When you look in the mirror, what do you see?   For many of us, what we call our self-image is an extremely big deal.  Many of us don’t see our true self, our “God-created” self.  We don’t recognize our true value, not realizing how much we matter, honestly struggling to see ourselves as valuable as God sees us.   

In this episode, we explore the many mirrors that give us a reflection that is not our true self, and how God defines who were our, our calling, and our true identity.

We can learn a lot from being stuck in traffic.  It an teach you patience, learning how to wait your turn, and even selfishness.  Think about this - are you always living life at one speed, or are you flexible to slow down and speed up when needed?  When you get stuck, do you allow other people to merge, or do you take time to enjoy the pause, or do you hog everyone's bumper?

In this fourth part of the "Traffic" series, we take a look at what life lessons traffic jams can teach us with hopes they can help you with the way you view certain life situations.

Life is full of detours.  We all see detours in our future plans, our health, our work, our families, our finances, our relationships.  A detour may take you far off the path and slow you down.  They catch us off-guard, often leaving us frustrated, confused, curious, or even hurt.  We may be left questioning why certain things happened or why we were sent a certain direction.  We can also be tempted to become discouraged, frustrated, or even angry.

In this third part of the "Traffic" series, we take a look at several reasons why detours happen and how we can and should respond to them.  

Do you feel like life is running at 100 miles per hour?  How much of that is us overworking ourselves?  How much is us looking way overthinking things that are way down the road?  How many of us need to do a better job of living in the present?  

The speed at which we choose to live our lives has a direct effect on our work, our family lives, our relationships, our emotional health, our spiritual lives, and deep down to our souls.   In this episode, we address the question: Do you have a “speed limit”?  

If you do, this week we'll talk about why it's important to take your foot off the gas pedal (or maybe off the brake) and how we can relish the present while still moving forward towards what our future holds.