I love to eat, a lot. In fact, I love to eat a lot, a lot. Because of that, I find a certain tension inside of myself. I love to eat, because food is so good. […]
Category: Life
All of life is a gift
There are many parts of life that are easy to enjoy. They have some kind of reward built into them. Eating is generally its own reward. Hunger is satisfied. Taste buds are pleasurably engaged. Meal […]
Plugging the holes in our spiritualities
A friend texted me recently about a deeply frustrating conversation he’d had with a client earlier in the day. His language was colorful. Workplace frustrations are a common experience of pretty much everyone who has a […]
The stories we tell ourselves & the truth of our lives
I know who I am by the stories I tell to myself. The same is true of my relationships. People who are happy in their relationships tell themselves happy stories from their relationships. They remember past […]
The power of passion, persistence & performance
This is the story of a boy and his piano. But more than that, it’s about how to live life well. Matthias is a whirlwind. The youngest of my four kids, we call him the Exclamation […]
We're all winners! [OK. That's not true. But we can learn to lose well.]
“If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” The words were emblazoned on my kids’ elementary school walls. So. Not. True. There are things I can dream of that I simply can’t do. They’re […]
Getting what we give
If you act like a bull in a china shop, don’t be surprised if people treat you like one. If you’re a shrinking violent, don’t be surprised if people pass you by. While it’s not […]
Slow your breath down
Sometimes, it’s the speed of daily life. Sometimes, it’s words heard that keep bouncing off the walls of our hearts. Sometimes, it’s as series of worries that are out of our control. Sometimes, it’s a […]
What's wrong with the world? I am.
In an often repeated story about the eloquently witty Catholic writer G.K. Chesterton, he replied to a request to readers from The Times to answer the question, “What is wrong with the world today?” with this response: […]
Get over it!
If you’re an adult, you’ve had experiences where people have said and done hurtful things to you. I have. We all have. They were painful. They were inappropriate. But they’re over. Done. Gone. In the […]
Moving from can’t … to Can-ada
Gotta love that can-do country!
Dealing with fear by living in love
I am far less rational than I like to think I am. In all kinds of small and large ways, fear keeps me from doing small things that I might like to do and large […]
Trans Jenner — discontent in a culture of self-creation
It’s amazing how quickly the culture shapers have embraced gender change. Jenner won the courage award on the ESPYS and anyone who disagreed was shamed. Siri refuses to use the name Bruce Jenner, always changing it to […]
Sports and the myth of equality
Equality is essential to mathematics. To the rest of life, it’s both nonexistent and undesirable. Recently, my family and I went to the Oregon high school track and field state championship meet. After watching numerous […]
Death by packaging
We’ve got a packaging problem. A recent article in the venerable Atlantic suggests that those plastic coffee pods that make Keurig brewing machines so convenient and popular are adding tons of the non-recyclable, non-biodegradable plastic K-cups […]
For those of us who are grieving
As those who live in this tragic beauty called life, as those who live at the intersection of sorrow and joy, we approach death with a strange mix of emotions. As those who follow Jesus, […]
Tell me I'm wrong
Some of the most important moments in my life were times when people who cared for me pulled me aside and told me I was wrong. As kids, people told us we were wrong all […]
I don't care how you feel. Just do the right thing.
As a parent, one of my jobs is getting my kids to do things they don’t want to do, because they simply need to do them. It’s a frustrating job, but we parents do it […]
The hilarity of backhanded compliments
Recently, a friend and I had a great time trading backhanded compliments — compliments that are really put-downs. Here are a few of them. Feel free to add some of your own in the comments. There […]
The simple cure for mosquito bites
We do a lot of hiking, which often takes us to mosquito infested areas. The hikes, the views, the conversations, all of it’s great. All of it except for those dratted blood-sucking pests. Thankfully, last […]
"What do you want?" — How to want what you really want
“What do you want?” It’s the first thing Jesus speaks in John’s gospel. A question. And a simple one at that. But it’s one of the most powerful questions any of us is ever asked. […]
The "authenticity" bluff — why our lack of self-knowledge undermines our claims to be authentic
Authenticity. We love it. We love the gritty, stripped down personality who says it like it is. We love the person who bares their soul. We dig musicians who reveal their innermost thoughts and hurts. We […]
The books we read shape the way we live
The books we read, the stories we immerse ourselves in, give us an imagination for how to live the rest of our lives. So, when I come across one that shows me a better way […]
Give it your all … but stop trying so hard
Soccer practice had just ended and I was ready to head for home. But the coach had a different idea. As the other boys trickled off to their cars and awaiting dinners, the coach pulled […]