We got guinea pigs. [sigh] Jacob has been doing great in school and as a reward, I (caved, and) agreed to guinea pigs for him and Morgan. Spike and Cutie. Don’t get me wrong here–I love giving gifts to our kids. But guinea pigs? I think the reason behind my reticence comes from my memories [...]

The stories of our lives as Christians fall into one of two main plot templates: The Sinner’s Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer. Lord Jesus, I know that I’m a sinner and I can’t save myself. I see now that you died to pay for my sins. Please forgive me and come into my heart. I [...]

We all suffer. We all doubt. So why do we have such a hard time dealing with it? Doubt is a dirty word in Christian community–we’re told we must be certain of our beliefs. But certainty is an emotion. Admitting doubt, some say, reveals weakness in faith. Well, I’ve never met a strong believer in [...]

Here’s a story I’ve never told outside my family and close friends. (I’m breaking my 500 word rule on this one… sorry) I was a lacrosse player in college. In my last year, our team made it to the NCAA National Championship Game. It was played in Byrd Stadium at University of Maryland in front [...]

photo credit: http://urbanchristiannews.com I caught a few minutes of a cop show the other day in which students at a high profile private school developed an ingenious system of cheating on tests. Apparently, they hacked the school’s computers, got the answers, then had generic water bottles made with test answers instead of nutritional information printed on the labels. Hey, [...]

photo credit: http://blog.faboverfifty.com One day I was sitting on the patio of a hotel in La Fonda, Mexico, about two hours south of San Diego. My friends and I were looking out over the ocean when we saw an old ultralight aircraft buzzing by. It was basically a hang glider with an air boat fan loosely [...]

photo credit: http://www.talkandroid.com I need to admit something to you. I secretly read all the web/tech blogs. I love it. I can’t get enough. Ask me the difference between the ‘interest graph’ and the ‘social graph,’ and I’ll have an answer. Propose to me all your reasons why the laptop is an evolutionary dead-end, and I’ll [...]

photo credit: Carol Bond Last night I dropped our kids off at my parents’ house for a sleepover. Before I even got out the door, they were already busy with a… “Jacob, what are you doing?” “We’re doing a craft with Gammie.” “What is it?” “You put this paper Santa in a dish of water [...]

photo credit: http://online.wsj.com I loved working for Progressive Insurance. Most insurance companies operate their claims process on the specialist model. They train people to be very good at one part of the claims process. You might have had some experience with this, if you’ve ever wrecked your car. It goes something like… car accident, call to the [...]

photo credit: http://www.writers-free-reference.com I was sitting at my favorite cafe this morning, enjoying the ocean view, writing and returning emails. A guy sat down next to me. Dreads, tats, odor, smoke, shifty glances. He plugged his cell phone into the wall and started up an expressive conversation. We were the only ones on the patio. We [...]

photo credit: http://www.unifiedlifestyle.com We’ve put the cart before the horse. Last week, Monday, at 2PM, I asked a young man whom I mentor to begin recording his practices, hour by hour. I asked him to do this for exactly one week–until yesterday, Monday, at 2PM. He wrote down everything he did for each of the 168 [...]

photo credit: http://www.mydestination.com I first experienced South Africa at age sixteen. The month-long journey completely changed my life. A lot of sixteen-year-olds would’ve walked into a situation like that blind, but not me . I spent countless hours reading about the climate, topography, culture, people and language (books, people… no Internet back then. Lots and lots [...]