My four-year-old daughter colored several papers and attempted to staple them. Her six-year-old brother observed. “I have to push with all my weight when I use the stapler,” he said, validating her struggle. Suddenly, she stood up, chair scraping, launched her project in the trash can, and stormed to her room. “I’m right here if you want –,” <cue slamming…
I sat in the pew and braced myself for the fear I knew to expect. I don’t know how many times I thought I was wielding the shield of faith, only to sustain a truth-knifing requiring weeks, or longer, to heal. My pastor preached a sermon last fall based on Kyle Idleman’s book Not a Fan. The sermon’s main message…
I still remember an interesting act from an elementary school talent show between two characters, “dear Henry” and “dear Liza.” If you know the children’s song, you already know Henry tells his dear Liza, “There’s a hole in my bucket.” And dear Liza answers quite practically, “Then mend it, dear Henry!” And he asks her, “With what shall I mend…
For anyone who’s ever defaulted to a straitjacket of fear – reading about Jesus telling his followers they will have trouble can be enough to drive us to hide quivering behind locked doors. John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I…
I’d done what I was supposed to and it still wasn’t coming together. I knew God heard my prayers; I didn’t doubt that. So why was it so hard this week? I had thought that things get easier the more you practice them, not harder. So, I was surprised, after a decade of experience, at the unusual degree of difficulty…
I rummaged in the linen closet for a washcloth. Eye sleepies, dried drool, residual toothpaste…my five-year-old daughter was adorable, just needed a little unmasking. As I wiped her face, my daughter kept trying to peer into the mirror, delaying progress. She seemed to be admiring herself. After a few times, I said patiently, “Look at me, not the mirror. The…
Blood and guts aren’t my thing. I hate scary movies, and I don’t go into haunted houses. I don’t like most science fiction. But the following is a true story. Back in the pre-kids days, I worked in an office. My boss grew up in the country and joked that Chicago city folk vacationing in our region only saw real…
