Why are we so eager to point out when and where people fail? When someone makes a very public mistake, it takes only seconds for people to post their disapproval on social media. This inclination seems to starts young for most of us. If you have brothers and sisters, you know what I’m talking about. […]
Another unusual saying that you will hear in Christian circles often comes up in prayers. Such as, “Dear God, please place a hedge of protection around Joe and his family during this difficult time…”. A hedge of protection. What does that mean? And, where did we get that from? Background: The most likely place […]
One of the classic Christian go-to phrases is the ever-popular “I’m blessed”. I guess it is used to make sure that we squeeze God into the equation whenever someone asks us how we are doing. I’m not “good”, I’m blessed! It’s a way of insinuating that God had something to do with our good fortune, […]
For most of us Memorial Day means two wonderful words: LONG WEEKEND! For others, it’s a day to gather folks around and fire up the grill. For still others it’s your chance to torture your family by watching every war movie in the history of film. (I enjoy all three actually). At it’s core, Memorial […]
Hatred is hip. Or at least it seems to be. There was a time when hatred and vitriol was limited to the major news networks. You knew what to expect when you tuned into CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, etc… There would be well dressed, well spoken adults talking at length about who exactly was causing […]
Last Christmas, our daughter gave Mindi and I a free night of babysitting that we used to catch a concert at one of our favorite venues. I wasn’t expecting a new insight into grief as Johnnyswim walked out onto the stage that night, but that’s what I got. The husband-wife duo talked about how they had […]
The love for equals… is a human thing, the love for the less fortunate… is a beautiful thing. The love for the more fortunate… is a rare thing. And then there is love for the enemy. This is God’s love. It conquers the world. -Frederick Buechner Everyone is talking about how important it […]
When my daughter was in middle school and high school our daily schedule was insane. She had school during the day and I had work. When we got home, she would do homework, and I would mow, or wash the dishes, or do whatever chore that had been most neglected during the past week. After […]
There are two things that we all have in common. First, we all want our relationships to be good. We want them to be strong and healthy, and beneficial for everyone involved. Second, we have all had relationships that fell far short of that. We don’t set out to wreck our relationships or to cause […]
It’s easy to forget about our relationships when they are doing well. When life is good, it’s easy to assume that our relationships will always go well. If we aren’t careful, we will take them for granted and stop doing the things that keep our relationships healthy and growing. Over the next few posts, I […]