I just got off a short phone call with a friend. It was a pretty standard conversation—there was nothing life-changing, but those few moments were life-giving. Everybody should have a friend or two who consistently elevates their energy level and encourages them…that reliably give them life. I’m fortunate that my […]

Yesterday, for my day off, I decided to organize the family room. We moved into this house about a month ago, and this is the room to which all the extra random boxes have found their way. It was a daunting task, but it needed to be tackled. Sometimes, though […]

I was reading a relatively obscure story in Scripture today. Jeremiah 44 contains the narrative of the prophet Jeremiah in Egypt. He was there because he had traveled with the unfaithful remnant from Jerusalem so he could keep speaking God’s words to them. At one point he channeled God’s direct […]

A church in Florida is burning some copies of the Koran in memory of 9/11 this Saturday and the whole world knows it. It’s not a large church by any stretch of the imagination. About fifty members who regularly engage in incendiary protest have finally discovered an action that will […]

We live in a culture where most of us are avid credit users. I have multiple little plastic cards in my wallet, each of which can be used to instantly purchase something that I need, or more often, that I just want. It’s a good idea to reconsider how we […]

I hope you had a happy Labor Day! What did you do, yesterday? I took the day off and enjoyed it with family. There is plenty to do today, but yesterday, I stretched out the last unofficial day of summer, hung out with some of my favorite people, ate some […]

I’m teaching a course at a local college and I’m really enjoying it so far (well, it’s only been one day). I’ve got a class of 9 bright, upper-division students and we’re going to have a lot of fun as we are learning together. But as much as I’m thankful […]

“Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.” (Ez 9:4) When I think about Ezekiel’s time in Israel’s history, it reminds me of our Western culture today. In countless […]

This Sunday I told everyone at my church that I stopped following Jesus. Scandalous? Not really. You see there is this Twitter user who goes by the name “Jesus” and posts messages as if He were the Son of God. It was funny to follow him for a while, but […]

The other day I was reading Jeremiah 33… “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In this place, desolate and without men or animals—in all its towns there will again be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks…flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them, […]

Yesterday represented my 100th post on this blog. What started out two years ago as a way to kill time during a Thanksgiving break has become a great tool to discipline my thoughts and work on my writing; it’s an outlet for this extroverted introvert to share what I’m learning […]

Over the last couple of days I’ve been reading a really fun book about the business history of Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. For me it’s been a worthwhile read with lots of great nuggets. However, I have to take exception to his understanding of how corporate culture should simultaneously […]

We just moved into our new house, and it’s too expensive. Rent in this part of Southern California is quite a bit higher than it is just 30 minutes East. We could have moved into a much nicer home and had more money left over for some “fun” things (or […]