“I’m sorry, it’s just that [something I can justify as not my fault] happened, so I had to [do/say something I shouldn’t do or not do/say something I was supposed to do/say].” “No worries.” [I’ll pretend I’m cool enough to not let this bother me, so no big deal, even though I’m annoyed with you.] … More The Importance of Apology

What does it mean to truly, joyfully delight in the Lord? That was the question posed when it was debated that joy is the opposite of fine and mundane, not the opposite of depressed or terrible. What does it look like to seek joy and fulfillment while loving God and loving others? Where must the … More the idea of delight

When I was about 5-years-old, my mom warned me not to touch the hot, steak plate that she had just taken out of the oven: the shiny, pretty, silver plate that she placed delicately on the wood base. It was so interesting, so fascinating and so worthy of being touched. Who knows why I wanted … More It’s not just about me

When I first went to physical therapy for my knee injury last spring, Physical Therapist Dude looked at my rather clean gym shoes and asked if they were new, presumably to investigate whether or not these new shoes were the cause of pain. That would make sense. Different running shoes have different soles, and they … More New Shoes

All I wanted was a North Face fleece. Many my friends had North Face fleeces, so I wanted a North Face fleece. Nonetheless, the one my mom bought me was from Land’s End or Eddie Bauer. It was a nice fleece, it was warm, it was a good color…but it was not a North Face … More Needs & Wants

Tuesday nights are generally rather ordinary. They don’t hold much meaning in our social world. They are a typical work day, school day, weekday. They are rarely a holiday. Not often do we have special occasions celebrated on them. And they seem to be a little vanilla: vanilla is good, but with all the other … More No Longer Ordinary

My knee still hurts. It’s been too many months of not running, and my most recent attempts to get back into some of the active hobbies that I enjoy have all been a mess. I woke up this morning and added “make Dr. M. appointment” to my list of things to do for the day. … More They just asked.

Barnie died last night. It was exactly one week since I knocked on this neighbor’s door to bring him leftover brownies. It had been a few days since I’d seen him. His smiling face hadn’t greeted me at all over Labor Day weekend from his balcony that always displayed an American flag, but it was … More And just like that, he’s gone.

I laugh a lot. Not just a lot by normal standards. but a lot by standards for a lot of laughing. I love to laugh! Who doesn’t? Working with middle schoolers and high school students, it’s hard not to laugh. They say some of the most absolutely absurd things on the planet with more confidence … More Some Truth in “All That”

I ran for 10 minutes yesterday. Ten. Whole. Minutes. It was the first day I was allowed to do so in quite a long time. I woke up excited about the possibility. My knee didn’t hurt. Not one bit. I dug out my running shoes with giddiness, barely able to wait to hit the ground … More “You have to do it for it to work.”