Earlier this Summer, my family took a trip to San Diego. As I sat there on the beach, I was revisited by childhood memories of swimming in the ocean. The sun would barely be coming up, when my mom would cover my brothers and I in layers of sunscreen before we’d go out into the water. One particular trip, I was dragged in an undertow, seconds felt like minutes as…

Many years ago I remember telling my friend, Wayne, that he ought not attribute motives to another person. I assured him he couldn’t possibly know what was rattling around in someone else’s head. He acknowledged my rebuke and was repentant. A short while later he confronted me about the comments I had made about someone else’s motives saying, “Aren’t you the one who told me to never attribute motives?”…

I recently came to a crossroad, the choice between continuing on my path or taking a sharp left. I don't know about you, but in situations like these, I tend to set up camp and talk myself in and out of every possibility for taking either direction (enter memories of debates on a Robert Frost poem - there is no road!). Both choices seemed promising, so I built my…

For Christmas my daughter got a set of wooden cookies from her aunt and uncle. They have cookie bases with frosting tops that connect with Velcro. The cookies came with a cookie sheet, an oven mitt, a knife, and a spatula. All together it was a wonderful gift for a two-year-old girl who loves to help her mama bake. I’m not sure when I first heard about the Blue…

Grief comes spewing out when you least expect it. A word here. A taste there. A smell. A song. A question. Insignificant, random moments that are suddenly thrust on you and tears flow and your heart is pierced and all the loss comes falling out in a heap in the middle of God knows where. It’s not arrangeable or scheduled. It can’t be forced. It just happens.  I was…

Blurred lines, dull lighting, and indistinct objects were all a normal part of the world in front of me. It’s amazing how one can spend so much of their lifetime with the illusion that they see things clearly.  Another lens, another perspective… can change your world instantly. Lines become clear, lighting more vivid, and objects more distinct.  I was 17 when I received my first set of glasses. They…

They slowly slip away, one by aging one, limping down alone these ancient saints take little with them but simple, godly hearts and tattered memories.  The things they built become decrepit edifices, abandoned now by children’s children and the children after them. Beside decaying paths the old ones slowly fall away.  Soon there is no memory, no recollection they were here.  The world goes speeding by, for life goes…

Cantilevered prayers, desperate floating cries, secure me to a mighty God through Spirit’s groans, bridging to the Maker who weeps of my collapse. Knowing I can’t stand alone, he spans chasm walls, extends the girders, welds beam to beam with an underpinning love  that never lets me go. In the swirling chaos where nothing solid lies, far beneath the seething waves tension and compression war. Against ever ramping squalls,…

Recently in the revolving door of meaningless sports events, a basketball team from Canada won the NBA finals. It was the first time they’d ever won a championship. An important player for the team whose play helped push them over the edge to victory was a guy by the name of Fred VanVleet (okay non sports fans, try to stay with me, I promise this isn’t some botched, dry…

Here is a song I wrote around Easter. It's been in the back of my mind since then so I recorded it. Here's the lyrics: Way down by the waterStood a man I did not knowStood a man who called my nameHe said, “Come. Come to the water and I’ll give you life.”Way up in the hillsIs where I went to hide awayIs where I went in fear and…

https://youtu.be/h2dX6XvKTvo

We often reject the thing that we need most. We often believe the lie that by denying something altogether, then there’s nothing to lose. We do this because we are afraid to want the very thing that could make us or break us.  Afraid of intimacy,  because it risks rejection.  Afraid of trying, because it risks failure.  Afraid of vulnerability, because it risks exposure.  Afraid of having faith, because…

Ruth died. She was my mother’s best friend and the wife of Pete who became something like a dad to us kids after our dad died in 1969. Pete would come over most weekends and do things like fix a leaking faucet or replace a water pump on Mom’s ‘88 Oldsmobile or help Mom with balancing the bank book. It was the stuff of everyday life. Ruth would most…

May 24, 2019 To my fellow Villagers, the faithful in Christ Jesus, whose security and significance come from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that out of God’s great riches you might be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being. I pray that you will be rooted and established in love. Together with all of God’s people, may you understand how wide,…

Scroll through any social media feed and it doesn’t take long to discover the common theme of self-love. People are becoming consumed by the idea of self-improvement through independence and inner strength. Posting photos of vacation destinations, untouched meals, and filtered selfies has become the new norm. The smoke and mirrors of the 21st century, social media has become a way to create the illusion of the ideal life.…