Wait? Jesus wants me to learn from my kids about receiving?
Your Date Is Here
It’s a risky thing to ask a girl out. I remember the fear as a twenty-something anytime I asked a young woman on a date. It felt like placing my heart in her hands for her either to hold or to crush. So like a lot of guys, I tried to minimize the risk, read the signals, pick up on clues and cues to get a good sense of what she’d say before I ever put myself out there. If it seemed like she...
Humdrum Love
I love new music. When I’m introduced to a new song I like, it finds its way onto every playlist I make for the next several months. Then at some point, I press play and find these young, spry songs have become worn, predictable ones. This can happen in the realm of words, too. Words that once stirred or inspired us can, over time, become tired and formulaic. We end up skipping over them without...
Pancakes . . . and Passion
We have a Saturday morning tradition in my house: pancakes. Banana-Cinnamon-and-Honey pancakes, Blueberry-Pear pancakes, Apple-Walnut-and-Brown-Sugar pancakes, and the “Kitchen Sink” pancakes that include dregs from all the previous batches and anything else dad decides to throw in. My kids love it. Well, they love the eating part. They hate the waiting part. We adults are hardly...
Ideal Distractions
I’m a sentimentalist. I admit it. This time of year, I find myself wishing my life looked a bit more like . . . well, more like the ads on TV: Fire in the fireplace, snow falling gently outside, Christmas tree all decked out, an immense number of pristinely wrapped presents underneath, and a diverse group of family and friends (all with really white teeth) gathered joyously together as...