This is a message given by a friend, Tim Coen, who spoke with me at a men's retreat in October of 2025. It's profound. It explains the questions, frustrations and doubts that we feel as we desire to offer the life and gifting that God has given us for others.

Here are a few of the talking points:

Every man has three circles…

• My circle of ABILITY - what God made me able to do. My gifts, passions, strength, and effort.
• My circle of CARE - what God has given me to care about and be responsible for.
• My circle of AWARENESS - everything I know something about.

Our circle of awareness doesn’t really affect us much, but the relationship between our circles of ABILITY and CARE deeply affects how we live…

• In adolescence, our circle of ABILITY is likely to be just as big or bigger than our circle of CARE, not because we have such amazing ability (even if we’re impressed with it), but because we mostly just care about ourselves. It feels like if we just try, we can achieve whatever we care most about.
• In young adulthood, and throughout our lives if we take God’s mission seriously, our circle of CARE quickly outgrows our circle of ABILITY. Our ability has grown, but there is just so much to care about. No longer can we easily achieve all that God has put in our heart to be responsible for. This is uncomfortable!

There are more free resources at TheNobleHeart.com

We should be intrigued with God, with our life (heart) and with others. When we are, we discover that God speaks and guides frequently.

The disciples were intrigued with Jesus asking questions like:

• What does the parable mean?
• Why could we not drive out the evil spirit?
• When will these things happen?
• Is it I, Lord?

Sometimes we are not intrigued about God, our life and others because we are afraid of what we might discover.

When we are not living intrigued we often react to things with the expression, “whatever”.

This message was given by Gary Barkalow at a men's retreat in October, 2025.

For further free resources go to TheNobleHeart.com

This is a message I gave on Father's Day to fathers, but it's relevant to everyone.

There are times when we sense an urgency to speak into our children's life no matter what their age...or anyone's life. The concern feels like a potential wildfire that could grow out of control, causing great damage.

When a wildfire is spotted, firefighters will do reconnaissance - they will get eyes-on to gather information about the fire and the surrounding environment to guide the response and ensure the safety of firefighters.

• Identifying the fire's origin and extent
• Assessing potential hazards
• Locating victims and determining rescue needs
• Informing a tactical plan

This is what we must first do to bring kindness and truth, wisdom and understanding to someone's heart.

My text was Proverbs 3:3-7, which is probably very familiar to you. I hope that perhaps you will think about it differently as I now do.

Gary Barkalow

I recently gave a message for a Sunday service. I had been pondering and praying about what I was to speak on. Very quickly in that process, weeks for that Sunday, I sensed the Lord directing me to John 15, Jesus' allegory about the vine and the branches.

For some reason, yet unknown to me, it was extremely hard for me to put it together. I couldn't get to a settled place with the message, even minutes for I was to walk on stage. Perhaps the real message was for me - to simply abide and let the life of the Vine produce fruit for others.

Much to my wonderment, I have received more comments about heart impact with this message than any others that I can remember. My reaction has been, "thank you" and "really?"

So with that, I offer this to you.

Much of our life is designed to be navigated by curiosity. We certainly were curious when we were younger. For many of us, our curiosity was pushed aside by practicality and busyness, making mystery an annoyance rather than an adventure.

Curiosity is such an important and informative thing. Perhaps a more compelling word would be fascination. We are to live fascinated by God, by his creation, by the way things work, by people.

Visit TheNobleHeart.com for more resources.

This is an interview we did with David Cook about his recent book, greatness. David's first book was Seven Day's in Utopia which was made into a movie with the same name.

Dr. David Cook is peak performance coach in the field of Sport and Performance Psychology. He served as "Mental Training Coach" for the San Antonio Spurs from 1996 – 2004 that included two World Championships. He has coached performers from the PGA, NBA, NFL, MLB, Olympics, and collegiate national championship ranks. His business clients have included Exxon Mobil, Sprint, USAA, Valero, Merill Lynch, and many other Fortune 500 companies. In 2006 he released his best selling novel, Seven Days in Utopia: Golf’s Sacred Journey. This book was made into a movie, Seven Days in Utopia, starring academy award winners Robert Duvall and Melissa Leo and was released in theaters across the country Sept. of 2011. He served as Executive Producer and screenwriter on this project.

Dr. Cook has represented the U.S. at the International Olympic Academy in Greece; served as president of the National Sport Psychology Academy; and was recently named, "Top 10 Mental Game Consultant" by Golf Digest Magazine. He served as Mental Training Coach for the San Antonio Spurs for eight seasons, including their first two World Championships.

It's one of the most profound scriptures for believers in the New Testament, one that all of us could recite from memory and yet probably the one we doubt the most. But, it's how it works.

We will see it in life of Moses and the cooking show, Chopped.

You can watch this message on our website: It's How It Works: Believe It Or Not

This conversation was with John Blase in 2013 about his book, Know When to Hold 'Em: The High Stakes Game of Fatherhood.

You will enjoy John's personality and passion in his seeing parenting and fatherhood through the lens of an adventurer and risk-taker.