21 straight makes a perfect game – in softball
Author’s note: On the 8th of September our church began the Complaint Free For 21 Days Challenge. Several of my posts have referenced this effort. This post is an update of my latest attempts. If you’d like to know more about taking the challenge, check us out here or go to the website to get a band or […]
Leave it safer than you found it
I turned left instead of right and found myself on the trail in the wooded path. You’ve got to watch yourself along these. Roots and sticks and brambles galore. Every so often an industrious spider has extended himself across the way and surprises me with a sticky netting that needs brushing off. Clearly, no one […]
Thank God for Windex
How does the gunk get on the INSIDE of my windshield? I know about acid rain and air pollution. I get that the trees dispense pollen and the birds do occasionally poop mid flight. And of course there are the unfortunate bugs that come to their final resting place on the windshield of my car. […]
This band is cramping my style
This little purple band is a curious thing. We have been to challenged to wear it as a reminder of our commitment to the “No complaining for 21 days” effort. We’re to switch wrists if we complain and then start again at Day 1. (for more read more here) Friends tell me: their kids refuse […]
Where does hope live?
“The way things are reflects the will of God.” That’s the justification for ruling by divine right that I read in ancient texts. A sort of, well I am in power and since God is sovereign and everything works out the way God intends, God must have intended this. He put me in charge. Deal […]
ACL Repair: Get the Best Surgeon, Be Patient
Did you hear that Robert Griffin III had knee surgery? Good grief. They even prepared an animated look at ACL reconstruction for the Monday night football audience. Of course, it was all cleaned up. No blood or gore. Not the sounds of drills or hammers or screws or suction. But, in real life and real […]
Kids love a great story
I met an angel yesterday. She had floppy, shoulder length blond hair and pale blue eyes and she talked pretty much non-stop. Her name is Natalie. She’s 6 and in the first grade. I got a chance to talk to Natalie because her parents were doing parent stuff. Talking to other adults, answering questions, solving […]
What is God-willing anyway?
“God-willing.” I hear it all the time. Sometimes I hear it from me. What is God-willing? And what have I got to do with it? Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy will be done…” But somehow we have adapted this as an in-case-it-doesn’t-happen strategy. I’m asking for this, specifically, but if it doesn’t come out the […]
Stamped in Red Letters
Just discovered this teacher’s stamp in my desk drawer. I twisted the the knob to scroll through the rubber words. There was still some red ink on the ones most used: VERY GOOD and EXCELLENT. What if God had a stamper like this? If I received my life back stamped in Red Letters, how would […]
Sizing up Big Prayers
September 11th – I can’t draw a deep breath on my run this morning. Even the air is sullen with the anniversary of the day. I leave the house at 9:12am in a salute to its memory. Their memory. And the conversation – with God – begins. Please, send peace. Please, don’t ever let this […]