Our youngest daughter (and sixth child) will graduate from college this spring. I remember helping her pack for her first semester. She debated about taking an old fleece jacket she’d gotten in middle school. We discussed the fact that college students wear college-emblazoned t-shirts and hoodies, no longer associating themselves with their pre-high school days. …
Have you ever wanted to feel closer to God? Ultimately that’s what everyone seeks, even if we obliviously look to something else to fill that void. People need love, and God is love. People need hope, and God is called the God of hope. Many don’t know that the peace they seek is a Person. …
What circumstances trigger anxiety for you? During my school-aged years I got nervous hearing of an upcoming science test, of picking teams for softball in P.E., or that my coach wanted me to swim butterfly in an upcoming meet. (I find science challenging, hate seeing balls flying at me–plus I throw “like a girl,” and …
I was thinking recently about friendship—the most basic underpinning of which is trust. Have you ever had someone you were close to—someone you’d been through a lot with–doubt you? If so, you probably found it hurtful. After all, friends don’t lie to each other—they’re people you can depend on. The thought occurred to me that …
I’d just stepped out of the shuttle upon arrival at Logan airport in Boston, my breath visible in the chill air and my mind still spinning after a stressful semester of college. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a distressed lady talking to a seasoned skycap as he tossed luggage onto a …
Recently I had this thought in the shower, “Fear kills productivity.” I recognized a fruitful life forsakes fear and all activity motivated by it. Fear doesn’t add a thing to our experience. In Matthew 6 Jesus noted anxiety never lengthens life. Neither does it contribute to quality of life. Fear is never a happy place; …
Sometimes we enjoy ending a busy work week with a relaxed dinner while streaming a movie. Recently I picked an apocalyptic film featuring a well-known actor (the only human in the cast) who scrapes by in the hostile aftermath of a solar flare that compromised earth’s atmospheric protection and destroyed all vegetation. He lived alone …
I love John’s post-resurrection account where Peter and his buddies fished all night without success. At dawn, there stood Jesus on the beach. Perhaps He was just too far away to see clearly at that hour, but they didn’t know it was Jesus (despite seeing Him twice since He arose). Since neither Mary nor the …
Years ago JB had a book entitled Getting Things Done, by David Allen. At the time he shared the main idea with me, but neither of us pursued it. Now I’ve rediscovered that book and am a major fan. In it, the author argues that you should never dwell on the same thought twice unless …
