Ever have to pick out a special gift for the person who seemingly has everything? That shopping experience is quite challenging, isn’t it? We give gifts out of a desire to bless the recipient, to show our love for him, and to demonstrate that we care for him. Often times, though, we resign the search […]
Rehoboam Chose Poorly
Giving and receiving advice represent two potential hidden reefs in navigating life. We must be selective in accepting counsel from others. How well do we know this person? What’s their track record in adulting? In addition, we must weigh the counsel we generate for another against our personal motivations. Is my advice designed for his […]
Soil Makes the Difference
Soil makes the difference in our gardening efforts, and heart soil makes the difference in our receptivity to God’s teaching. I relearned the soil lesson in a big way this gardening season. How many of our life-goofs do we explain away with, “Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time?” Perhaps we researched, […]
Choosing the Perfect Gift
Sometimes I know just what gift to buy, but more often than not I whiffed on gifts for Shawn in our early years together. One Christmas, and this is a true story, I was certain I had the perfect gift identified. I had watched as she painstakingly used pruners to shape the azaleas in front […]
God is Light
“This Little Light of Mine” stands out as a great song. In one ministry Shawn and I invested our Sunday mornings in a room filled with children eager to learn something new from God’s Word, and that song held an honored spot near the top of the favorites list during our praise time. All those […]
The Desserted Island of Retirement
(Editor’s note: Chill out, grammar police. The word is spelled that way on purpose.) Retirement. That word conjures different images depending on one’s circumstances. Shawn joined me in this classification of American citizenship last May, and for the uninitiated, that means that we are now together 24x7x365. For real. My life and hers, entwined the […]