Photo Credit: Klobetime (Creative Commons) It was a hot summer Arizona day. The smell of barbecue burgers was making everyone wish it was lunchtime already. The joyful screams of children playing in the swimming pool filled the air as the adults lounged twenty feet away, enjoying the respite and the …
Graffiti & Family Fun Time For the Win?
I declared 2013 the year to overcome, but what does it mean to overcome? The truth is, I don’t really know, but I will share as I learn, and I hope you will do the same. Yesterday I learned that overcoming means facing multiple fears at the same time: fear of extreme dirtiness, fear of 5K …
There is No Plan Q, Not Even a Plan B
I have been dealing with epilepsy for 4 months, averaging 2 seizures a day. I expend energy every day trying to find the imaginary pattern to my seizures. Do I have a seizure when I sleep less? Does it happen when I sleep in too late? What if I drink too much milk? What about coffee in the …
2013 – The Year to Overcome
Wish I could tell you that I am big into New Year’s resolutions, but I am not. Wish I could tell you that I choose I key word or phrase to define what I want to accomplish for the coming year, but that would be a lie. I usually view life more as a continuum, and see each moment as a chance to …
Now Comes the Hard Part
We’ve been talking about thinking small to respond to the enormous tragedy that happened in Sandy Hook a few weeks ago. I took a break to focus on a few other topics, but wanted to finish that series tonight. If you thought sincere love and hospitality was a challenge, wait until we read what the …
Lost Memories
Part of the struggle with being epileptic is that memories just disappear sometimes. No warning. No pattern. No rhyme. No reason. No hope of regaining them. They are just gone. Like a very targeted amnesiac. This can be infuriating, especially for a person like myself who (used to) pride …
Ghosts of Christmas Past, Hope For Christmases Future
I was probably eight years old, and we were at my uncle’s house for Christmas. All of us kids were in my cousin’s room. I wish I could say we were having a great time, anticipating who would get what presents, or when the hot chocolate would be ready, or if we were going to get a visit from Santa …
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Continuing the Battle Against This Dark World
A few days ago I introduced the idea of battling the darkness of this world with sincere love. Let’s continue thinking about how to position ourselves as meaningful alternatives to the hate-mongerers that so often steal the name of Christ for themselves by continuing to walk through Romans 12, this …
Battling Darkness with Sincere Love
I’ve spent the better part of the past week without any new posts, trying to make sense of what happened in Connecticut personally, trying to determine what I can add to the near cacophony of voices out there in the media and the blogosphere. It’s been tough for me, because my daughter is autistic, …
What is NORMAL?
I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to the word normal, for a few reasons. I have well-meaning individuals in my life who keep asking me, “When will you stop having seizures and get back to normal?” I have to remind them that I am an epileptic, and this IS normal for me. To them, normal seems …
I am not Kobe Bryant and neither are you
I play basketball (technically), but not at the level Kobe does. I am also not Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; as a matter of fact, I have no musical talent at all. I am not even Mark Wahlberg, who has possibly the most spectacular abs in the history of mankind. Odds are that you are none of these people …
Then God said, “Go to this 10-Hour Meeting?” “Ummm….God….I Don’t Mean to Complain, But….Are You Sure This is What You Meant By Full Time Ministry?”
Sometimes, following God’s plans for our life does not turn out exactly like we imagined. I remember being in Bible college over a decade ago and hearing someone in chapel say this: “In 15 years, less than 75% of you will still be in full-time ministry. So think of your 3 closest friends. If you …