"Consider the Ravens..."

When I lived in Manila, I had a couple coworkers from commonwealth countries who would occasionally use the phrase "slogging on." It usually provoked a smile out of those listening because the word is not commonly used outside of commonwealth dialects like British or Aussie English. When asked for a definition, the reply is something along the lines of "pushing through even though it's really messy and imperfect and probably uncomfortable or frustrating." Synonyms might include trudging, plodding, walking heavily, or laboring.  We're halfway through 2020 and I can't think of a more appropriate word for how we're handing it: slogging. Absolutely slogging through 2020 -- every last one of us! Everyone on the planet has entered a reality we could hardly fathom just 6 months ago. There are no easy answers, but everyone seems to have an opinion. The stakes are high on many fronts and in a few areas like public education, there simply doesn't seem to b...

Hello from the middle of quarantine. I hope this post finds you well-rested, healthy, and thankful even as many of us grapple with new feelings of being bored, anxious in a different way, and a little bit purposeless in a world that seems to change every day. Many have asked how I am doing, and to be honest, I'm great (all things considered). I've come to the realization that my life isn't terribly different than quarantine life... but that's what's driving me to write this series. Many of my friends who are extroverts or who have jobs that require a lot of social interaction are finding themselves experiencing something they haven't felt in a long time, if ever. I, however, am well-acquainted with it. It's something our society doesn't like to talk about -- a word we relegate to the ultra-homebodies, the socially displaced, and those with very, very sad life stories. But today, I think it's all of us to some degree. Whether we'll admit it or n...

This year I decided I was finally going to do an Advent devotional for the month of December.  It's something I seem to forget about until mid-month and then the perfectionist in me doesn't want to do something half-way so I forego the whole experience.  But this year, I'm on it! I'm enjoying Ann Voskamp's "The Greatest Gift" devotional.  Advent celebrates the anticipated arrival of Jesus.  And even though the story line of Christmas morning is familiar, I'm seeing and experiencing Advent differently this year. Really, the point of Advent is to focus on the anticipated birth of Christ.  Anticipation is a funny thing. It's a wild card in our hand of emotions -- sometimes anticipation functions like excitement, sometimes like a pre-celebration, but sometimes it's the vehicle for anxiety.  And if you think about it, it's all made up -- anticipation is whatever we imagine it to be.  Experience informs our imagination, but we choose which th...

This week the Lord put a few conversations in my path that have caused me to stop and reflect on a core value in my life.  While I’m not totally through this process or conversation internally, I want to pose the same question to you because I think the mistake I made is an easy one, especially so for Christians. About a year and a half ago, I entered a season of intentionally reading my Bible more in pursuit of more practical godly wisdom.   Instead of just reading, I chose to write out Scripture in a notebook so I would remember it better.   In the course of a few months, I wrote out several whole books of the Bible, starting with Proverbs, then the books of 1 & 2 Peter, then 1 & 2 Thessalonians, then Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians and a whole host of Psalms.   But one of the phrases that has stuck with me from that time of study has been 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12.   It reads:         ...

I'm writing today from a coffee shop in a small town I didn't plan to stay in.  God has a funny way of encouraging His children to stop and smell the roses.  Here's the story: Thursday after work I buzzed down to a small town south of the metro to drop my car off and meet up with my dad to drive to Indianapolis for the weekend because Dad had another marathon to run.  I left my car with a former co-worker and family friend and spent just a few minutes catching up while we waited for Dad to arrive.  I got in the car with my dad and immediately said, "Man, I miss those guys!"  Dad asked, "Why don't you come see them more often -- they're not that far from you!"  I agreed and said I didn't know why but that I could be more intentional about those friendships. We had a great weekend in Indianapolis.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to navigate the city and how beautiful some parts of it were.  We never really got lost, which, if...

What makes you feel alive?  Like, genuinely full of life?  In the years God has afforded you, what moments have caused you to be most glad for the life you have?  Are those moments often or really rare?  Can they be cultivated?  Or is it just a matter of perspective?  So many questions! This week something I read hit me like a ton of bricks: "Hurt and loss strengthen our desire to heal and thrive."  I think we can all acknowledge there's a pretty significant difference between surviving and thriving.  It's become a bit of a catch phrase for today's working-class millennials.  We don't want to just survive in our jobs, we want to thrive and have an impact because life is about more than paychecks and mortgages.  But humanity has long-since debated how a person "thrives." To some degree, the concept of thriving is merely an idea and is subject to relative standards.  What is considered "thriving" in a developing nation may st...

So, there's something about me you should know. For the last six months, I have not had internet at home.  That's right -- I'm a millennial who has a job that requires internet access and yet I have no internet at home.  By extension, it means I do not have Netflix, Prime, Hulu, Spotify, or any of the other internet-based subscriptions so common to the American household today (and I don't have cable, either -- just 3 channels that come in when the weather is nice, haha).  I told this to a few people lately, forgetting how uncommon it was and was humored by their reactions.  What has become normal to me is outlandish to a few of my fellow millennials and completely unheard of when GenXer's compute that such a Millennial exists!  To be clear, I still have a smartphone with a (very small) data plan, so if absolutely necessary, I can access the online world... but honestly, my life doesn't require it from 4 PM to 8 AM, so I've foregone the $50+/month price ta...

Last night in Bible study, we read through the first chapter of the book of Acts.  This entire book is filled with incredible and nearly impossible-to-believe stories of the early Church right after Jesus was raised from the dead.  Chapter one starts with Jesus' final words and then describes a change in personnel within the twelve disciples.  It reads in part: 15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) 16 and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. 17 He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.” 18 (With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. 19 Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field ...

For more than a month, I've been savoring the story of Abraham and Sarah and God's faithfulness in their lives.  As one of the greatest figures in the Bible, there is so much to learn from Abraham's life.   But this morning I saw a sentence I'd never really paid attention to in all the times I've read this story.  Here's the story in full from Genesis 22:  22 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “...