All posts by mjharvell

Welcome, friend—I’m glad you’ve pulled up a chair on the front porch of my little corner of the internet. My name is Michael Joe Harvell, and I live my life with one simple mission: to glorify God, encourage people, and leave this world a little better than I found it. I’m a husband, father, pastor, writer, Jeep enthusiast, and front-porch thinker who believes that life is best lived on purpose. I serve as pastor of Eureka Baptist Church in Anderson, South Carolina, where I get the joy of preaching, teaching, and walking with people through the ups and downs of everyday life. Over the years, I’ve discovered that faith isn’t just about Sunday mornings—it’s about living every single day in the presence and power of God. I’m also an author. My books—including The Grace Exchange: How Forgiven People Forgive People and The Word Works—grow out of the sermons, stories, and lessons I’ve learned on this journey. I write in a style that’s conversational, a little front-porch-rocking-chair, and full of stories, quotes, and Scripture that point us back to the goodness of God’s Word. When I’m not writing or preaching, you might find me sitting outside with my Bible and journal, cruising the backroads in my Jeep Gladiator, or sharing a meal and some laughs with the good folks God has put in my life. I love helping people find peace in their spirit, strength in their body, and encouragement in their soul. This blog is simply an extension of that mission. Here you’ll find devotions, encouragement, reflections, and practical insights for living a life of purpose, peace, and joy. So grab a cup of coffee, pull up a rocking chair, and stay awhile—I’d be honored to walk this road of faith with you.
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Change Your Why To What And Move On!

Sometimes it just seems like it does not matter what you do, the world is just lined up against you. You get up with a good attitude, begin to take all the steps to head your life in a right direction and “BAM” out of nowhere you get blindsided once again with stuff you feel is totally out of your control.

So many of the people I talk to on a daily basis really do want to do better and live a more fulfilled life, but it just seems that no matter how hard they try, carefully they plan or how organized they become, life just seems to find a way of sticking it to them.

You may be one of those folks and trust me when I tell you that I can most definitely relate. I mean, I really do have the best of intentions. I like to think I have a pretty incredible work ethic and a tenacity to stick with it, no matter what, but sometimes life just seems to get too hard, especially when I seem to keep taking blow after blow after blow.

I have learned that when my life gets to this place, the first question, becomes the reoccurring question and before I know it, I have dug myself a grave. The question we tend to ask that gets us into such a mess is: “Why is this happening to me?” and the problem with the question is that it puts all the focus into the wrong place – me!

If you really want to succeed and experience blessings in this life, then you need to not only ask questions, but make sure you are asking the right questions. If we will just change our “why” question into a “what” question, we will be amazingly surprised at what a difference it will begin to make in our attitude and through our attitude with our life and living.

If you are going to ask and answer a question, then make sure it’s the right one. Instead of asking “Why is this happening to me?” Ask – “WHAT IS THIS TRYING TO TEACH ME?” It is the answer to this question that has the potential to set us free to be blessed in incredible ways. This question takes the focus off of me and puts it on the lesson I need to learn and once I learn this lesson, I am on my way to the better I was created for.

So my encouragement for today is to change your “WHY?” into a “WHAT?” and grow on! Trust me, you will be glad you did…

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Do You See What I See?

Working with students, faculty and staff on a daily basis, trying to provide spiritual leadership to a congregation and serving to meet the needs of others, means that I have a lot of opportunties to look into a lot of different sets of eyes. I get to look into eyes of all ages, races and backgrounds.

I have seen all kinds of “looks” looking back at me. Sometimes there is a look of love and appreciation for something I’ve done or said. At other times there is a look of pain, despair, frustration that comes from the individual not knowing what in this world they are going to do? There are almost as many different looks, as there are eyes to look at and be looked at by.

I love the eyes. I think they are one of God’s most amazing creations. I mean just the science of how it all works is more than my limited mind can grasp, but also the magnificence of the beauty and communication that flows from a set of eyes can literally take your breath away.

One of the reasons that I do not like texting conversations is because I cannot see the other person’s face. When I have a face in front of me, I can see the curve of their lips, the personality of their brow ad hear the silent communication of reality that flows from their eyes… Someone called the eyes – “Windows to the soul”, which I agree with and I think they are so much more.

Eyes are facinating, they speak a thousand languages, tell the deepest stories and reveal the most meanigul truth without speaking a word out loud. Charlotte Bronte put it this way in her classic “Jane Eyre” – “The would fortunately has an interpreter – often unconscious, but still a truthful interpreter in the eye.”

Pay attention to other’s eyes. Look and listen to what they are saying or maybe not saying??? Every now and then take a look into the mirror and allow yourself time to appreciate the very special gift of your own set of eyes and see if you can understand what they are communicating to you about you, your thoughts, ideas and feelings.

Thank you God for eyes to see and to communicate with and I pray that I might use mine to share your love and grace, as I take time to appreciate the opportunity to look into the eyes of others and know them in deeper and more meaningful ways. Wow – what a wonderful world…

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God Is…

Below is the message I shared at Grace Place today. It’s a message to remind you that there is One, who loves you more than you can dream or imagine, who cares about you in deeper ways than you could ever care for yourself and who has made a way where there was no way…

Audio Message