I am beginning to wonder if our culture has become addicted to fear and anger. You would think that we would avoid such unpleasant emotions, but in fact we seem drawn to them. Social media and the 24 hour news cycle have nothing that comes even close as a motivator of engagement or clicks as good old fear and anger. But even in real life, when we get a hit of fear or anger, we are eager to pass it around our circle of family, friends and colleagues.   This week I witnessed a small firestorm spread around our school community.…

I accidentally broke my streak last night, but only because I forgot to hit the “Publish” button when I finished writing. Every night since January 1st I have written and posted something here. (Though sometimes it was after midnight.)  Early on, I worried that if I ever broke my streak, it might dishearten me from continuing. But at this point the writing is a daily habit and one I enjoy AND find personally useful. My decision to write daily wasn’t a New Year’s Resolution. It was something I simply determined to make a part of what I am considering the…

I sat on the living room couch and cried. I was 8 or 9 and not usually prone to watching the daily 6 pm news, but somehow I had caught a segment on killer bees. Swarms were migrating northward from South America and soon would be crossing into America. After swiftly conquering the Southwest, they would inch their way relentlessly towards the Midwest.  I would be dead before I reached college age. I had it on good authority that nothing could stop them. Mom and Dad reassured me, but why should I trust them over the people on TV? That…

Recently some of my 8th graders were really getting into playing the old Oregon Trail simulation game for their social studies class. They were checking their progress before my English class began and comparing tallies of deaths within their imaginary groups by snake bite and dysentery.  I remarked that I am amazed when I stop to think of the absolute bravery of those early pioneers – travelling into unfamiliar territory fraught with hidden dangers.  Then I said something like, “It’s amazing when you stop to think about how much easier life is now.” One of the boys immediately protested, “Life…

One of my favorite verses of the Bible is 1 Peter 4:8: “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” None of us is perfect – we’re all still prone to a multitude of sins. If we live and work in the midst of gossip and judgment, we will always be looking over our shoulders, fearing a stab in the back. And with good reason!  But where love is strong and deep, we have confidence that we will not be cast aside for our mistakes.  This is one key value of a stable family.…

Here is a  list of EVILS from Jesus, as found in Mark 7:20-23: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come – sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” If you’re like me, you read this list and shake your head over mention of the evils of sexual immorality, theft, murder and adultery.  Shameful! Sinners! Tsk, tsk. We feel pretty righteous because we know these words do…

Did you notice anything surprising about the last verse of the four cited in yesterday’s post? That would be Hebrews 5:14 – “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Here is what I find curious: the author of Hebrews says that one thing which marks spiritual maturity is being able to “distinguish good from evil” … after a whole lot of practice and “training”.  But isn’t the difference between good and evil so very obvious that even an extremely immature believer can figure out the difference? (In fact,…

Hebrews 5:11 to 14 –  “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. [The “this” about which the author has much to say is Jesus’s role on our behalf as high priest in the order of the Old Testament’s mysterious Melchizedek.]  In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not…

For several decades now I have watched the following truths play out across many different venues, slowly and inevitably:   A leader within an organization who pushes for excellence and raises standards will draw the ire of the lazy, the lax, and the unserious. A leader who fails to push for excellence and lowers standards will draw the ire of the competent, the purposeful, and the serious.  The ire of the lazy is sharp and loud. And it is dangerous to the leader: the lazy will work for the leader’s removal. On the other hand, the ire of the competent is…