Gaining a heart of wisdom
Remember when most households consisted of a married couple and their children? Friends my age who grew up in single-parent homes back in the 60s and 70s have confided to me that they felt the weight of their uniqueness in the pit of their stomachs. By contrast, statistics reveal today the proportion of households consisting… Continue reading 3 Parenting Insights for Raising Emotionally Healthy Men, Good Husbands, and Strong Fathers
This summer, I am learning to bake, prepare meals, and can our garden produce on a much smaller scale than ever before. A batch of whoopee pies makes about two dozen. That's approximately one picnic's worth in the days of four sons living at home, but an endless (and overwhelming!) supply for this empty nest.… Continue reading Why Does Feeding People Make Us Feel So Happy?
I've noticed myself becoming impatient with some of this year's newly published books, which seem to be running toward Christianity as a self-improvement project. Scanning the lists from publishers, it dawned on me that there's no way I can be or do or fix all the unspoken broken that populates our world, the church, or… Continue reading Embrace a Life of Restful Exertion to Counteract a Self-Help Culture
Every year in late spring, we till up an admirable crop of rocks as we prepare the garden soil for planting. Some years I have been diligent about collecting them. Other years . . . not so much. Regardless, there always seems to be a plentiful supply, and after twenty plus years of gardening in… Continue reading There’s a Big Purpose Behind Every Small, Unseen Task
Weekly we gather — seldom daily as they did in New Testament times, the era of ravenous lions and Nero’s flaming, pitch-dipped Christians, human torches to light his gardens. Lugging our three pound Bibles and a week’s worth of accumulated angst, we gather, having in common our hearts of flesh and likely the scar tissue… Continue reading Every Sunday Come Together for the Better and Receive the Story Anew
I had brought my walking stick, so with careful navigation and a moderate pace, I managed the nearly mile long trek along the breakwater without incident. It felt like a tiny victory, because even before being diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, I had begun to notice some balance issues. The uneven surface, the movement of the… Continue reading What Number One Priority Controls Your Decision Making Process?
I've just turned the last page in the book of Deuteronomy. Moses's ministry has come to a close, his life has come to its end, and he's given a glimpse of the land God had promised to his people. But he will never set foot on it. One of the benefits of my plodding through… Continue reading Finding Rest and Being Satisfied in the Land of See and Trust
Part of the delight of spending time with my oldest grandson is that he takes nothing for granted.Nothing.“Bam, why bubble pop?”“Because you stood on it.”“Why?” Well, good question. Why indeed, and even now, our conversations still routinely run on in this vein of relentless curiosity. Now that he’s old enough to have moved from bubble… Continue reading The Practice of Curiosity and the Rewards of a Lifelong Quest for Knowledge
Happy Father's Day! If you have a loving dad in your home, or if you grew up in a home where there was a supportive and involved father, you have so much to celebrate! Children are blessed when their father contributes his unique gifts, perspectives, and personality to the family. One of the best gifts… Continue reading The Best Father’s Day Gift: A Loving Dad
Prayer is hard work, perhaps because it's hard to quantify. I can spend fifteen minutes praying or fifteen minutes cleaning the bathroom. The results of one are far more obvious than the other--at least in the moment. But what about the long term "results?" And exactly what do we mean when we talk about "results"… Continue reading Do You Ever Have the Feeling that Prayer Doesn’t Really Work?
Living Our Days 