Relationships
My dog died today
My dog died today. There’s not a person in my world who can’t relate with me on some level. Why so much pain? My little dog wasn’t human, so what’s the deal? Why am I feeling such loss? The simple answer is grief. The Bible speaks often and significantly to the grief we all experience.…
Read MoreFriendship worth pursuing
Friendship…how important is it? Does it fall into the “extra” category. Is it something like, “it’s nice when it happens, but it shouldn’t necessarily be pursued.” Or is it something that has profound implications for our lives? I believe it is the latter. Proverbs 13:20 says “Walk with the wise and become wise. For a companion of fools…
Read MoreTalk is cheap
How do you show your love for somebody? That’s a fair question. Now I’m not just talking about your boyfriend or girlfriend per se. In fact, let me rephrase the question. How do you show your love to anybody? As I ponder the question, there are several things that come to mind. It’s not just…
Read MoreAfter you’ve done everything, what do you do?
Some people are just contrary, stubborn, and mean. You could stand on your head all day trying to resolve an issue and it wouldn’t work. Because they’re not willing. Maybe they don’t care. Maybe they don’t see their error. Maybe they refuse to admit something. But ultimately, it’s on them. You’ve tried. You’ve prayed. But…
Read MoreSign language
Nothing too profound today, but I write this blog today at an outdoor coffee shop. Lots of people deep in conversations. But one girl at a table got my attention. She was making a ZOOM call on her computer. The interesting thing was she was deaf and she was not talking but using sign language.…
Read MoreDon’t take the bait
My sons and my son-in-law are great fishermen. They love to get away, through a line in the water, and wait for a bite. But I have a problem. I don’t enjoy waiting. They tell me after you’ve found the right bait, you will find yourself waiting and waiting for the fish to take the…
Read MoreUnreturned love
I blog a lot about love. Love “makes the world go around,” right? Theologically, many believe that it is the primary attribute of God. Love is the “sriracha” sauce of healthy relationships. Hopefully, the love you demonstrate is reciprocal. But what if your love isn’t returned? When a parent ignores their own children. When a…
Read MoreWhat’s in a name?
Dictionaries define a good name as “a person’s high standing among others.” We associate words that describe a good name dignity, good report, honor, prestige, reputation, repute, respect, and status.” A good name means people can depend on you. Seems that people can’t depend on much anymore. Can they depend on you? Do they know…
Read MoreGood question
Great quote from Malcolm Forbes, “One who never asks either knows everything or nothing.” It’s interesting to me that Jesus was asked a bunch of questions from a variety of people. “By what authority are you doing these things?” “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Who is my neighbor?” But when asked in Matthew…
Read MoreThe most important things in life
Every once in and while we enter a difficult season. Perhaps money is tight or health is declining. In my case, I’ve had several friends die within the last few weeks. That situation certainly gets you in touch with your own mortality. But for me, it has done more. It has forced me to renew…
Read MoreBest relationship stuff
One of the best relationship verses in the Bible is found in Philippians 2:3. The Apostle Paul writes, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,” If we only applied the first part of the passage (not doing anything with a selfish motive), we’d be miles ahead on…
Read MoreTime-sensitive
“Time-sensitive.” Have you ever received a bill, a notice, or an appeal of some sort with those words attached to it? It’s used to describe a product that has to be delivered by a particular time or information that is only useful for a particular period. Now many clever salespeople will use “time-sensitive” to get you…
Read MoreNicknames
Years ago the most popular TV sitcom was “Seinfeld.” One of the characters, “George” wants a cool nickname. He wants his friends to call him “T-Bone.” It never catches on with his friends. Instead, they nickname him, “Koko the monkey.” He hates it…obviously! There is a man in the Bible named Joseph, but you probably…
Read MoreLeadership from Mom
Leadership can be hard to define. On one end it can be specific to Fortune 500 marketplace companies and on the other end, it can be generalized to the way a family operates. There are many who would state that leadership is a commodity that is reserved for a select few. I disagree. Because there…
Read MoreLoving well
TIME magazine, February 23, 2015, makes an intriguing statement “research shows married couples enjoy greater longevity than singles.” That report makes “’til death do us part” even more of a commitment. Married couples have been found to have lower rates of substance abuse, lower blood pressure, and less depression than singles. Even though the study is a few…
Read MoreMy Dad
I’ve got a picture of my dad in my office. It’s attached to the American flag that was used in his memorial service when he died. It reminds me of his service to our country as a United States Marine. It’s a great picture. He’s in a leather jacket with a WWII leather flight helmet…
Read MoreInsurance policy
Life insurance is a basic need. At least that what an op-ed in The Economic Times March 30, 2011, says. It’s the first step in financial planning. In a way, all investments are insurance against financial risk and all insurance is an investment for a better tomorrow, If you’re sitting in your easy chair any…
Read MoreLittle specks
How often has this happened to you? You’re out and about when all of a sudden you get something in your eye. You know it’s something very small, but it is such an irritation. You do everything in your power to remove it. It takes all your effort and attention. In fact, you can’t do…
Read MoreInspire the Next Generation
Who will inspire the next generation? That’s a great question to ask yourself today. You may be the sort of person who says, “I can’t inspire a rock.” Well, don’t sell yourself short. Like it or not, people are watching you. You may not know they are, but they are. Years ago I was working on…
Read MoreHistory repeats itself
Maybe you’ve heard the phrase, “History repeats itself.” That phrase originally is attributed to George Santayana in 1905. What he actually writes in the book Reason for Common Sense is “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it!”. In a 1948 speech to the House of Commons, Winston Churchill changed the quote slightly when he said “those who fail…
Read MoreTreasure hunting
I have a very good friend who does geocaching. It’s an outdoor treasure hunting game using a GPS-enabled phone. You try to navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates in order to find the geocache hidden at that location. The geocache treasure is a box that is hidden and filled with a log (to record…
Read MoreFights
I got into a fight today. Fortunately, there wasn’t much blood. In fact, there wasn’t any. Nothing physical ever happened, but it was a fight for sure. It wasn’t loud, unruly, or disruptive, but it still a fight. No other people could see the fight, but it was a fight none the less. What was…
Read MorePoop explosions 😂
People do things for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they do it because they’re forced to…like me and taking out the garbage. That’s not high on my priority list. Some people are motivated out of fear. They are afraid of negative repercussions when they procrastinate. For example, I was driving around in my little red…
Read MoreWhen tragedy strikes
Romans 13:2 “Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.” Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable.John F. Kennedy Community is not just a “buzz word” of our day, it’s how God designed us to live, “in community.” Now there are different spheres…
Read MoreThe Mask
By now you know I’m a movie nut. I mean, I even like bad, low-budget, B movies. Speaking of those, Jim Carrey starred in “The Mask” back in 1994. Crazy comedy with some animation thrown in. Here’s the premise. Carrey’s character finds an ancient green mask. When he puts it on, he changes and becomes…
Read MoreWhining never works
When you don’t get your own way, what do you do? Do you get angry? Do you pout? Do you get loud? Do you play the “that’s not fair” card? I’m finding that this is not just an issue of childhood adolescence. It’s an issue we all face. The most successful people I know have…
Read MoreA family dose of love
I’m sitting in my favorite coffee shop working on a project. They always have some background music playing. Today we’re listening to an “oldies” station. I find myself singing along (in my head thankfully). Then I hear, “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge. I think it was released in 1979. Maybe years ago I didn’t…
Read MoreWearing masks
During the current COVID-19 crisis, I wear a mask when I’m indoors in a public place. I’d love to show you a picture of me with sunglasses, mask, and hat. There is nothing that is recognizable or that identifies me…other than the poor choices that I make for my wardrobe (but that’s another story for…
Read MoreThe richest man in town
We all have favorite traditions. One of mine is watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” each year around Christmas. Who doesn’t get a little choked up at the end as the whole town comes together to express their love for George Bailey during his time of need? The people that he has loved on for his…
Read MoreWho you gonna call?
The coronavirus has left all of us vulnerable. What we “thought” we could control, our jobs, our health, our future, we now know what internally we all suspected. We really can’t control anything. We never could, but we would fool ourselves into thinking that we know it all and could do it all. So as…
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