When I was a kid I had a number of heroes—people I looked up to, admired, and wanted to emulate. I wanted to have the calm and cool mind of Joe Montana, who could run the two-minute drill without breaking a sweat.

When I write and highlight in my books, I’m not just reading—I’m carrying on a conversation, a dialogue, with the author. I highlight important points. I often write descriptive comments in the margin to remind me what the author was discussing, but I also often carry on discussions and ask questions. All this amounts, not merely to reading the material, but digesting it.

Wherever you go to school, ensure you’re connected to a solid church that bears the three marks: preaching of the word, administration of the sacraments, and the administration of discipline. What will it profit you to gain a world of academic achievement, and the job of your choice, at the expense of your spiritual well being, and maybe even your soul?

Listening is also vital in your interaction with your children, spouse, co-workers, and others at church. Perhaps you’re encountering problems with the people in your life because you’re not doing enough listening? Make sure to ask a lot of questions and do a lot of listening before you decide to offer any counsel. Good counsel floats upon an ocean of listening.

If we allow our culture to tell us that we can have our lives exactly how we want them, will we be less or more inclined to drop our nets and immediately follow Christ wherever he calls? My hope and prayer is that anyone who is considering serving Christ and his church would be open to serving anywhere and to anyone regardless of their personal preferences.

Above all else, be faithful to the Lord’s call, do your very best, and leave the results up to him. Measure your success in terms of your fidelity, not in the way the world measures it.

Don’t think that because only you see how the clock gets made that people do not benefit from your penetrating study. You may feel alone at times, but don’t let that sense of isolation discourage you. Seek ways to share what you’ve learned to the edification of Christ’s church.

Pray, therefore, against sloth and indifference in your marriage. Don’t give up. Pray that Christ would enable you to love and care for your spouse. If the passions of anger well up within you, pray that Christ would help you exercise self-control. If you’re a pastor, know that ice is a bigger problem than fire, but be diligent to counsel married couples against both dangers

Does your commitment to the doctrine of the trinity pervade your theology? Does your preaching reflect the doctrine of the trinity? Is it so focused upon Christ that you fail to mention the Father and Spirit?

I write for the sake of transparency. When I went to seminary, I had a number of professors who would say all sorts of provocative and even heterodox things in class. They would never publish such things because they knew they would get into trouble for it.