What I’ve Learned in Nine Years of Marriage
Well, I should’ve posted this last summer - but hey, better late than never, right? Being married for nine years has changed me in ways I never saw coming. Rachel could tell you all about how I’ve grown up (in areas I didn’t even know needed work), and honestly, I feel more grounded, more stable, and - this is a big one - I actually like me more than I ...
What I’ve Learned in Nine Years of Marriage
Well, I should’ve posted this last summer - but hey, better late than never, right? Being married for nine years has changed me in ways I never saw coming. Rachel could tell you all about how I’ve grown up (in areas I didn’t even know needed work), and honestly, I feel more grounded, more stable, and - this is a big one - I actually like me more than I ...
What I’ve Learned in Nine Years of Marriage
Well, I should’ve posted this last summer - but hey, better late than never, right? Being married for nine years has changed me in ways I never saw coming. Rachel could tell you all about how I’ve grown up (in areas I didn’t even know needed work), and honestly, I feel more grounded, more stable, and - this is a big one - I actually like me more than I ...
What I’ve Learned in Eight Years of Marriage
Rachel and I completed ten years of knowing each other and eight years of marriage last year, and I’m glad to honestly be able to ...
Jack Bauer is My Hero
I have been watching a show on Hulu for the last few months, and I am enamored by it. I am sure I am suffering ...
The Scarcity and Abundance of Shark Teeth
If you live in or around Jupiter, Florida, you’re likely familiar with the fact that over the last couple of years, there have been a lot of shark teeth found on our local beaches. The ...
The Dilemma of Distracted Parenting
It is nonstop when I am with them. “Look at me, Daddy!” “Watch me, Daddy!” “Daddy come over here!” “Daddy, are you listening?” “Daddy, will you play with me?” “Hey…. Hey…. Hey… Hey DAD!!!!!”. I ...
What I’ve Learned in Seven Years of Marriage
Rachel told me a while back that the seventh year of marriage is supposedly the hardest, with statistics showing that half of married couples who divorce do so by this point. I had never heard ...
What I’ve Learned in Six Years of Marriage
Hooray! Happy Anniversary to me! To Rachel! To us! That also means it’s time to share what I have been learning in marriage! Yep, the lessons keep coming. I think they will never stop, even ...
Keeping First Things First
With the new year upon us, I've been thinking a lot about keeping first things first. It's so hard when the tyranny of the urgent ...
If You Can’t Measure It, It Doesn’t Matter
I am re-reading a book I love by Sara Hagerty, and the author brought up a point that I wanted to try to think through. ...
Obsessing Over the Stock Market
I am not sure if you’ve followed the stock market this year, but it has been a wild ride. In January and early February, we were approaching record highs in the major indexes. Then COVID-19 ...
The Desire To Be Loved
The week between Christmas and New Year’s is…weird. Everything builds up to a zenith on December 25th – which is a great day – but then it ends. And we find ourselves suspended in mid-air ...
Working Yourself To Death
I was reading a paper recently entitled “Spending in Retirement: Determining the Consumption Gap” that talked about how retirees are dying with more money than they had when they actually retired. Specifically, the researchers studied ...
The Most Beautiful Sight You’ve Seen
We’re up in Southwest Virginia for the holidays, and God gave us snow on the night of Christmas Eve! The miraculous part of it was that it had barely snowed here in many years. But ...
Why I Love Christmas
Merry Christmas everyone! This special day allows me to reflect on Jesus, his celebrated birth, and all that He means to me and my family. And the day itself has become even more fun since ...
Childhood Moments I Miss the Most
When I was in elementary school, I used to entertain myself in the oddest of ways. I remember taking a a ruler and a fine sharpie marker and drawing a compass (like, the kind you ...
Want a Mentor? Be a Mentor
You may know that I’ve been hoping and praying for a older, wiser mentor in my life for decades. Someone who has walked the road I am on, who sees something unique in me and ...
Wishing My Life Away
As you know, I have been thinking about how I’ll never be satisfied. And that all of the beautiful things I've gone after – romantic love, success, pleasure, adventure, money, clout – won’t ever fully ...
Do I Fully Trust My Partner?
With Christmas fast approaching, I was thinking about the relationship between the parents of Jesus. We don’t know much at all about Joseph from historical texts, but English translations convey that he was a carpenter ...
Are You Preparing for the Future?
Every fall, it’s hurricane season down here in Southeast Florida - which serves as an annual reminder that disaster could be headed my way. I’ve had to deal with four major hurricanes while I’ve lived ...
The Bad Stuff I Model To My Kid
You might not know this about me, but I get frustrated frequently. Not with my job, or marriage, or even other people, but with small stuff. Like when one-year-old Ravi throws his food on the ...
Never Trust a Leader Without a Limp
Have you heard this quote, or one of its variations? Originally made by John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard church movement which has spread across 95 countries and involves over 2,000 congregations, it is ...
What I’ve Learned in Seven Years of Marriage
Rachel told me a while back that the seventh year of marriage is supposedly the hardest, with statistics showing that half of married couples who divorce do so by this point. I had never heard ...
What I’ve Learned in Six Years of Marriage
Hooray! Happy Anniversary to me! To Rachel! To us! That also means it’s time to share what I have been learning in marriage! Yep, the lessons keep coming. I think they will never stop, even ...
Keeping First Things First
With the new year upon us, I've been thinking a lot about keeping first things first. It's so hard when the tyranny of the urgent pulls us in all sorts of directions, and we go ...
If You Can’t Measure It, It Doesn’t Matter
I am re-reading a book I love by Sara Hagerty, and the author brought up a point that I wanted to try to think through. She said that many of us hold a belief that ...
Obsessing Over the Stock Market
I am not sure if you’ve followed the stock market this year, but it has been a wild ride. In January and early February, we were approaching record highs in the major indexes. Then COVID-19 ...
Fresh Eyes and Little Things
Before my little girl Maya was born, I remember praying so very hard for her to have perfect health. Not just every time we went to the OB/GYN for another sonogram, and not just on ...
Sacrifices That Are No Sacrifice
I have always been extremely sensitive to those less fortunate than me. I think this started when my family took me to see our relatives in India when I was ten. On this trip, my ...
I Will Never Be Satisfied
Do you know that song “Satisfied” in the musical Hamilton that occurs about halfway through the first act? It’s sung by Angelica Schuyler, who is captivated by Alexander at the same time that her sister ...
Comparing Myself to Other Men
I am not going to lie – I definitely do it. I compare myself to other men. I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently and just wanted to get to the bottom of my ...
When You Need Help To Get Over the Hump
To this day, baseball is my favorite sport. And I’m thankful for the opportunity to play organized baseball when I was young – even though I wasn’t very good at all. For 4-7 year-old kids, ...
When You’re Being Tempted
Probably like every other kid in the entire world, my girl and boy love sweets. Maya is known to say “I don’t WANT food, I want treats and snacks and sweets!!” I just shake my ...
When Life is Moving Too Fast
Everyone who hears that we have a three-year-old and a one-year-old tells us that “they grow up so quickly” and to “take time to enjoy these moments” because they will be gone before we know ...
When Your Partner is in “Work Mode”
I met Rachel in 2013 while volunteering at a summer camp in Banner Elk, North Carolina. According to her, she started falling in love with me after seeing how I was with kids: playful, carefree, ...
What is the Point?
Do you find yourself asking this question? Maybe just to yourself, in your head? Or maybe, if you’re feeling vulnerable enough, to someone you know who won’t judge you? “What is the point?” I feel ...
The Three Keys to Intimacy
You want your romantic relationship to thrive, right? We all do. I’ve only been married for five years, but I feel like I’ve learned the secret to it. Perhaps that sounds arrogant but Rachel and ...
My Favorite Story of Childlike Faith
I try to live my life with the “faith of a child” that Jesus talks about – a faith that is innocent, full, expectant, and without suspicion or distrust in God’s goodness. Of course, this ...
When Your Heart is Being Tested
Tests are not fun. Really, they are the opposite of fun. Many nights in high school, I remember staying on the phone into the early morning hours with various friends trying to cram for an ...
When You Can’t Sleep at Night
A few of my friends recently are having trouble sleeping these days, and I’m praying for them hard because I have absolutely been there during extended times in my life. I've often felt the same ...
When the Door Opens and Lets the Future In
The other day, I stumbled upon a quote by British novelist Graham Greene which stated: "There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in." When reading a book, ...
But Do You Still Love Me?
Earlier this summer, I was putting my two-year-old Maya into her car seat when she hastily and forcefully pushed open the car door and scraped the door of our other car in the garage. This ...
Ignoring My Kid and Ignoring God
“Look, Daddy!!!!” “Are you watching?” “Pay attention, this is important!” “DAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” My just-turned-three-year-old Maya is the best. She’s always up to something: dancing and twirling around, climbing on furniture and banisters and countertops to test ...
Choker Necklaces, Beauty, and Relationships
Rachel recently ordered some choker necklaces. Why, you might ask? Because I absolutely love that look. It reminds me of my punk rock days, where all the emo girls would wear chokers with their heavy ...
Deathbeds, Regrets, and Lessons to Learn
Rachel’s granddad passed away recently. His name was Cliff Davis, and he almost made it to the ripe old age of 91. He lived with Grandma on the second level of Rachel’s parents’ home, and ...
What I’ve Learned in Five Years of Marriage
I didn’t know if it would ever happen – me meeting someone who was everything I ever wanted. And then I did, completely out of the blue, while I was serving at a summer camp ...
What Are You Fighting For?
In every great story, someone is fighting for what they believe in. Something dear to their heart. Something that is much bigger than their own life. When we think about our favorite movies, we recognize ...
Nobody cares. Work harder.
I recently saw this slogan on a t-shirt. It feels right, and is super inspiring. But is it a healthy mentality? Will it actually lead to the life I really want?
Do You Keep Your Word?
In my classes at the university, I sometimes give my students extra credit. Most of the time, it is specific to the subject matter I’m teaching, but occasionally I mix it up and ask them ...
Hope Deferred Makes the Heart Sick
Something has been weighing on my heart a lot recently, and I’m really not sure what the right answer is. Maybe there isn’t a right answer. I don’t know. A handful of my friends are ...
Can We Connect?
Hey there! Can I update you via email when I write and post a new blog? I won’t spam you – I’m just trying to purposefully connect with those who share my heartbeat about believing for the best, living life with childlike faith, and viewing the world around us with awe and wonder.
Can We Connect?
Hey there! Can I update you via email when I write and post a new blog? I won’t spam you – I’m just trying to purposefully connect with those who share my heartbeat about believing for the best, living life with childlike faith, and viewing the world around us with awe and wonder.
Can We Connect?
Hey there! Can I update you via email when I write and post a new blog? I won’t spam you – I’m just trying to purposefully connect with those who share my heartbeat about believing for the best, living life with childlike faith, and viewing the world around us with awe and wonder.
