Another Example of How God Doesn’t Play Low-Stakes Poker
I got the call on the way to Virginia.
First I should tell you that when we approached our wonderful landlords about our upcoming trip, we told them we would be moving out. We couldn’t afford to pay rent AND be on the road, so we planned to put our stuff in storage and then find a new house to live in when we got back this summer.
Our landlords surprised us by telling us not to move out. We could keep our stuff in the house, stop paying rent while we were away, and then pick up where we left off as soon as we got back. That was a shocker. Amazing news.
But there is a small chance we may sell the house before you leave, they said. If we do, you’ll need to move out before the trip.
Then came the phone call the other night, 21 days before our scheduled departure in the big blue bus. Read more 
Bobby McFerrin, Broccoli, and a Question Jesus Asked
Stop smoking. Start exercising. Stop eating fast food. Start eating broccoli. Stop crossing without looking both ways. Start walking instead of driving. Stop adding salt. Start adding vitamins. Stop drinking alcohol. Start drinking red wine.
The list of advice regarding how to live a longer life is endless and often contradictory. Yet we absorb these recommendations and then regurgitate them with amazing confidence, certain that whatever tidbit heard last is the surefire guarantor of a long life.
But adding a day, or a month, or a year, or even a decade…is that the point? Is that really all that we’re concerned with? Read more
The Forgotten Commandment
It’s so easy for us Christians to go on and on about the same old things. The sanctity of marriage. The unique importance of unborn life. The evils of evolution.
We like to remain rooted in the big picture issues because, for most of us, they have little impact on our day-to-day lives. Our lists of dos and do nots conveniently line up with the natural trajectory of our own lives, requiring little in the way of personal change. We can comfortably spend the day fighting “the issues,” then go back to homes where those things will leave most of us alone. Read more
Cade and I Discuss the Merits of an Invisible God Who Often Doesn’t Seem to be Listening
Awesome photo taken by http://jamiebg.blogspot.com/
“Hey, Dad, how come hard things happen in life?”
I stared into the rear view mirror, peering through the darkness to catch a glimpse of my 8-year-old son in the back seat of the minivan. After the meal at Friendly’s, I felt stuffed. Heat rushed from the dashboard, trying to put me to sleep. My recent back pains had even died down a bit now that I was sitting in the van. We were only waiting for Maile and the girls to come out with our takeaway ice cream, and then we’d be good to go.
“What do you mean by hard things?” That’s called a stalling tactic. Read more
Fourteen-Day-Old-Already-Screwed-Up New Year’s Resolutions, and Listening to the Right Voices
“No one will want to read that.”
“If your friends knew about the things you’ve done, they’d be super disappointed and probably leave you.”
“If anyone found out about what was done to you, they’d secretly believe it was your fault. After all, it kind of was your fault.”
When you’re alone in your car, or on the train, or encountering an unexpected moment of silence, where do the voices in your head take you? When life taps the pause button on your to-do’s and schedules and scurrying from here to there, like a squirrel suddenly confronting a predator in the midst of hoarding acorns for the winter, which voices are you believing?
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