My wife and I divide and conquer when it comes to homework help with our children. She assists with all of the math and artistic issues. I assist with languages and composition. For the most part, we have been able to work through any questions that have arisen. Over the last two years, however, my middle school son’s homework has become more nuanced and has required me to engage my brain to a...
Beautify the Inside
I attended the First Baptist Church of Elkhart, Indiana from the time I was in kindergarten until I graduated from high school. At the time, the church was located on the corner of Prairie and Hively right across the street from a mall. It was a big, prominent church in the community; and while “times they were a changing,” it was, for the most part, a traditional Baptist church. I don’t know...
A Life Well Spent
I really enjoy all of the diverse and unique opportunities for service that come along with my job, but there are seasons when it becomes a little bit overwhelming. Over the past week and a half, I have officiated my sister’s wedding in Syracuse, Indiana, spoken and led worship at a youth work trip in West Frankfort, Illinois, presented a seminar on developing intergenerational connections...
Dance Beyond Your Dreams
Before my daughter was born, I swore she wouldn’t be a girly girl. I had always dreamed of becoming a parent, and I had very clear expectations of how things would work and who she would become. I was certain that she would be a daddy’s girl and that as a result she would trend more towards playing in the dirt than playing with dolls. I actually wrote a song about my expectations entitled...
A Tool for Every Occasion
I almost always carry a pocket knife. It’s a practice I developed when I was fairly young. You might be wondering, “What inspired you to do such a thing? Did you have a parent or grandparent that passed this on to you? Did you live on a farm or out in the sticks where it was a necessary tool?” The answer is, the knife in my pocket is an example of an instance where media influenced an...
The Beauty in the Chaos
It’s 4:45am and, for some reason unbeknownst to me, I am WIDE AWAKE. For many of us, this isn’t exactly worth a second thought. This is just a mundane detail of daily life. For me, this is an issue as my alarm isn’t set to sing me from my slumber until 7:00am. That would be another 2 hours and 15 minutes hence. Being that I have so much time before I actually need to get myself and my children up...
A Guide To Get You Where You’re Going
No one really uses maps anymore. At least, so it would seem. I’m not talking about the application on your phone, either. Most of us use that from time to time. I’m talking about an actual paper, hard copy, chart your course and go, map. They used to be standard equipment in a vehicle for a trip covering any real distance. I still see paper maps occasionally, usually when we stop at rest stops...
After Easter
And, just like that, another Easter has come and passed. Billions of plastic eggs have been found, all except that one that was hid a little too well under a tuft of grass in the middle of the yard for you to find with a lawn mower at a later date. Children and adults alike have consumed enough candy to choke a piñata. Family gatherings were had and survived, with or without the presence of...
Enter the Promise
We all dream of doing something significant and meaningful with our lives. Young and old, rich and poor, great and small, we all have hopes and dreams we are pursuing. I tend to think of our progress from where we are to where we want to be like any other journey. The beginning is generally exciting. The picture of what we hope will be is so vivid in our mind’s eye and we are more than...
Love Becomes Us
Hypocrisy is defined as “the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform.” Put more simply, hypocrisy is when what we preach does not line up with what we practice. It is an inconsistency between our words and our actions. Having spent a great deal of my adult life, actually, ALL OF MY ADULT LIFE, in and around local churches, I’ve heard...
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