We all know the two greatest commandments:  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. And love your neighbor as you love yourself.” If we are to have any hope of living out these commands up to God’s standards, we had better make sure we know what “love” is. When the world talks of love, it means something along the lines of “unconditional acceptance” or “desire for another”.  But neither of those definitions really cut it, do they? One of my professors, Dr. Chris Bounds, pointed out that genuine, biblical “love” involves one’s will along…

“When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection.” – A. W. Tozer In the past, I killed a lot of time. Since I hit my 50s, not so much. It still happens, I suppose, but rarely am I tuning out of life and responsibilities for extended periods of time these days. (Except for those darn Tik Tok-style videos that show up on Facebook and Instagram. They sometimes suck me in. Human behavior is fascinating!)  Anyway, as I reflect on how you and I don’t have time to waste, this classic poem by Longfellow comes to mind: A Psalm…

I am working on a writing project that has me pretty excited. The beauty of this effort is that it promises to be useful for each aspect of the central trifecta of my current life: work, school, and my own personal interest. It will show up on this blog in bits and pieces, no doubt, since I am finding it possible – more and more often – to multipurpose my writing.  In short, this new project is an extended analogy which I have found useful in comprehending some basics of Christian theology – especially as addressed in the book of…

I don’t know that it can be argued that our nation’s media have worked to inflame racial tensions in recent years. It feels like the only legitimate debate is just how often they do it and how much their influence has affected race relations.  Here’s a despicable example from CNN’s website just yesterday where they ran this headline: “An entire North Carolina police department resigned after a Black woman town manager was hired” Sounds like the police walked out upon hearing the city had hired a black woman, doesn’t it? In reality, they worked under this new town manager for…

Yesterday we joined a couple thousand people late for the dolphin show at one of the outdoor auditoriums at Sea World in Orlando, Florida.  A man came out to hype up the crowd before the dolphins’ appearance. He would play bits of songs from the 70s and 80s through the loud speakers and then encourage us to continue the lyrics whenever he cut the volume at key moments.  I don’t remember the last time I heard so many voices united so joyfully. From Sweet Caroline” to “Love Shack” to “We will Rock You”, it felt like everyone knew every line. …

I was doing some writing today about Ginger and I was reminded of one of the funniest “cultural difference” lessons I learned in Haiti. Americans can be weird about our dogs. We buy stuffed animals, soft beds, and canned food for them. We will wrap gifts for them at Christmas time and refer to our dogs as our “fur babies” and as “members of the family”.  It was not that way in Haiti. Ma Lwi was a sweet Haitian lady who cooked for our family a few nights a week. As she prepared the meals, she would often set aside…

In recent months, I have been told by both my children and my wife that I can be rather sarcastic.  At first, I brushed it off: “Everyone is sarcastic.” But I was told that I, in fact, have a special talent for sarcasm. It took a few repetitions for this to sink it.  My family isn’t being critical, necessarily. They are just pointing out a fact.  But now I catch myself saying sarcastic things and I am slowly coming to realize that my family is right. And I don’t like it.  As I have gotten older, the following thought pops…

At this point in my life, I have two key habits which bookend each day: after waking in the morning I study Scripture and before going to sleep at night I write something for this blog.  Both are well beyond the threshold of the number of repetitions needed to establish “automaticity” – I no longer have to consciously “remember” to do either. Both feel like a natural part of the rhythm of each day.  In fact, if I skip either one, I feel “off”. Like the day is incomplete.  Like something important has gone missing.  It only takes a few…