Shepherds. I’ve been thinking about them a lot recently, mostly because of a verse that stood out to me: The shepherds are senseless and do not inquire of the Lord; so they do not prosper and all their flock is scattered. When I read that, I was like, whoa, God, you’re really calling them out. What exactly do You want them to ask You about? I mean, what they are ...
Recently someone told me during a conversation about the seasons of life that “the days are long but the years are short.” I’m sure that quote has been around forever, but it struck me as if those words were uttered for the very first time, and I’ve been thinking about it over the last week. Life does seem to speed up when we get older. And even though as an ...
My little girl Maya just turned three months old. And we've had a lot of fun together even during these early days of life as I try to make her smile in every conceivable way. And as I teach her how to be human, she’s teaching me how to trust God. One of our favorite things to do is to have her stand on my stomach while I’m lying on ...
“Society treats kids and senior citizens the same,” Rachel remarked to me the other day, and it got me thinking a lot about the truth of that statement on many levels. In the main, there just doesn’t seem to be a lot of time, respect, and wholehearted care given to those populations by the mass of individuals who find themselves chronologically between them, even if they are related to them. ...
On Tuesday , we were due to have our first baby. People say that with your first child, it’ll probably come late and so don’t get your hopes up for an early or even on-time delivery. But you all know me – I definitely expected ours to not make us wait. She’s been so active every single day for a couple of months now, and it made me believe she ...
Driving on the backroads of Ireland is very stressful and downright scary sometimes. This is no exaggeration. Americans like me are already at a bit of a disadvantage because the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, and the Irish drive on the left side of the road. Secondly, Irish roads are notoriously curvy and hilly – and the signs say you can go a lot faster ...
Somehow, some way, a bit over twenty-four months have passed while I’ve been doing this marriage thing. What the pez!? You’ll recall I shared some of the lessons learned after one year of being hitched, and I thought it would be important to reflect again now that we’ve hit another milestone. I’m not sure how the first couple years are supposed to be, or tend to be. Are we still ...
I’ve been thinking recently about the ways that God endeavors to show us that He loves us, that we are the apple of His eye. Many times, we are just moving so fast as we manage our responsibilities and commitments that we miss or dismiss His gestures of affection, and then wonder why He doesn’t seem actively involved in our life. I’ve been there. When I slow down (or am ...
My life is about to be turned upside down, because we’re about to have a baby. This is a wonderful, incredible thing, and I don’t take it for granted. It’s actually a complete miracle to have a child, and I am beyond grateful that it happened. And I am so very excited because I’ve always wanted to be a dad, and have always been great with kids. I’ve always done ...
While living in a dorm room this summer at a university in Ireland, I was reminded about one aspect of human nature I really dislike. I had to get to another campus to give a speech, and went downstairs to the reception desk to ask someone to please call me a taxi. However, the person behind the desk really didn’t seem interested, and appeared put out by my request even ...