Month: May 2017

If you never lie in bed wide awake at 3:00 in the morning being emotionally water-boarded by should-haves, if-onlys and what-might-have-beens, please feel free to click on the Archives and read another post. But if you have a past that likes to hang around and remind you of how dumb or awful or gullible or sinful or reckless or destructive you were, this is for you. Regret is not just a nuisance. A mosquito buzzing in your ear is a nuisance. A rock in your sock is a nuisance. Regret is what drove King Saul insane. It nearly put Peter … Read more…

Paul wrote his letter to the Philippian church from a prison cell. He had no idea whether he was going to be exonerated or executed. He was writing to a group of people who were divided among themselves, confused by false teachers and surrounded by a culture that was hostile to their faith. Yet he repeatedly called them to be joyful. That’s weird. Your leader is in jail, your church is divided, confused and persecuted and you’re supposed to be joyful. Seriously? But this isn’t the only place in the Bible where people are called to be joyful no matter … Read more…

“Don’t get anywhere near that street! Do you hear me?” “Yes, ma’am,” my brother and I called back in unison to our mother as we bolted out the door to play. After a week of rain the sun was finally back and we were ready to romp. Of course, we headed straight for the street. There was a deep dip in the asphalt right in front of our house on Shadburn Avenue. After a big rain, water would pool up six, maybe eight inches. When passing cars splashed through it, a ten-foot-high wave exploded from beneath their fenders and crashed … Read more…

If you’re a graduating senior, your parents are probably going to seem a little – clingy — for the next few weeks. Over the last 18 years, they have pretty much organized their lives around you. Your schedule was their schedule. And now you are leaving. Even if you aren’t moving away, the relationship is going to change. That’s going to leave a huge vacancy in their lives. So if they are weirder than usual, they aren’t trying to control you. They’re just trying to figure out how to say goodbye. The adults in your life are all wondering – … Read more…