Why We Need To Relax Harder, Not Work Harder

During my tenure as a high school track coach, there was one skill that seemed nearly impossible to teach to the sprinters. All of them began with the assumption that running as fast as you can meant pushing your legs as hard as possible. Nothing could be further from the truth. The human body moves at […]

Waiting: Frustration or Freedom?

I was at the grocery store last week, returning an avocado that spoiled. As I waited at the return counter, the woman on duty was busy speaking to one of the employees. I was there no more than thirty seconds when I began to feel impatient. After a minute of still being unnoticed, I suddenly […]

The Call of the Cemetery Trumpet

I knew we needed to do this, something I had never done before. Heidi agreed, so we got in the car and made the twenty-minute drive there. Our first view was sobering, evocative, as we gazed on row after row, stone after stone. We had come to a veterans cemetery on Memorial Day to remember the dead. We walked among them, […]

Taking My Own Medicine

“And what happened there has transformed my life so much.” It was a friend’s description of her experience in a ministry similar to Landmark Journey. I should have been delighted—or at least encouraged. But I was neither. I felt jealous.  In my mind I knew that if Jesus were honored and hearts were changed, I should rejoice, but […]

Mother’s Day Lost and Found

Ten years ago I lost my mother to cancer. Heidi and I went out to visit her grave yesterday as a way to honor her life on Mother’s Day. As we walked through the cemetery, we talked about her death and other losses in our lives. At one point, I acknowledged to Heidi that I still […]

A Funny Thing Happened On the Ride Home

It’s one of the funniest things that has happened to me recently. Saturday morning I was biking with my friend John on a ninety-minute route. The end of our ride together was marked by a steep hill followed by a road juncture; here we would part ways and each head home. John was behind me as I […]

Help Wanted!

I really need your help. If you are interested in hearing why, read on… I have been divided about Divided. This is no silly pun. As I mentioned in the blog last week, so much of being an author today is about promoting yourself, getting your message out, growing your platform. Since the book released last month, I […]

The Silence Is Where the Action Is

It happened again last week. It was powerful, transforming, beautiful. Here are the ingredients: a few men and 20 minutes of silence. Doesn’t sound like much, does it? I know. I used to think that powerful and transforming meant big and loud. Now I know better. The silence is where the action is. It’s where […]

The True Confessions of Being An Author

I used to think that being an author was a golden trophy, coveted by many, achieved by few. It marked one out as being special, worthy of attention. I viewed authors much the same way I viewed well-known musicians or actors. Then I became one. Suddenly the golden trophy mutated into a wooden idol. Being […]

Why I Love Easter and Hate Public Prayer

Over the last decade or so, I have grown to love celebrating Easter and hate praying in public. That love/hate relationship collided on Sunday. Here’s the story. First Easter. Why do I love it so much now? Perhaps it’s all the cultural baggage and insane busyness that weighs down Christmas. Perhaps it’s getting older and […]