From the day I started my first summer job outside my parents’ hardware store until my current days, I have heard plenty of complaints about “the boss”. I have never been the boss myself, but I have decades of experience being under someone else’s authority. During my first foray into youth ministry, I found myself under the authority of a truly despicable pastor. He was mean, foul-mouthed, negative, and – according to his own adult daughter – crazy. He was a mess. But I came to understand an important lesson from him.  In a position where I was unhappy with…

Yesterday I quoted Hebrews 13:17: “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.”   And as I mentioned, the authority in question here seems to be within the church. But certainly we can draw a couple of principles that would apply to general scenarios where we find ourselves under authority – like students under a teacher or employees under a boss: 1) We should submit…

Submit. It’s not a popular word. Not a feel-good concept. Not an easy practice. But it is a command believers frequently find themselves under in various situations. A command! Here’s a particularly neglected passage of Scripture with a submission command: “Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.” (Hebrews 13:17)  It seems clear from the context that the author of Hebrews has the…

Am I the only reader who really enjoys footnotes in a good book? I get a little thrill when I turn a page and notice a sizeable footnote coming up. I often even scan the page to find the exact location of the little asterisk in advance so that I am sure not to miss it as I read the main text.  Is that weird? Part of my love of footnotes is that they signal an author who has done his or her research and is willing to “show the receipts”. I admire that. But probably the bigger factor is…

When I was young, I trusted the news media to tell me the truth about current events. Then I learned about bias and how it can twist the truth by selection of what to report and what to leave out.  Then I began to recognize just how much of the news media “on the other side” was influenced by their bias. And then I began to recognize just how much of the news media “on my own side” was influenced by their bias. Now I don’t know who to trust on any current event. Real journalism seems pretty scarce these…

Watching Sarah running track has highlighted an important difference between me and my kids – much to their advantage: it took me decades to learn the difference between talent and skill. As a kid, I typically gave up on any enterprise that I couldn’t excel at within the first ten minutes of effort.  I tried out for track during junior high but quit after the first day. My excuse was “sports asthma”, but in reality, I was slower than everyone else. At the end of the first day of practice.  So I quit.  I tried out for the swim team…

My 8th graders have been reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. If you are not familiar with the novel, it was published in 1967 when the author was just 18 years old and it heralded a new, grittier take on young adult fiction. (Susan Eloise Hinton, by the way, was convinced by her publisher to use only her initials in order not to alienate any young male readers who might find themselves biased against a female author.)  I had never read the book before this school year, but I am left with two distinct impressions: First,  it is a pretty…

It’s funny. I have been writing every day now since the start of 2021 – three and a half months. When I began, I thought I would likely run short on topics by the end of January, but now at April 16th, I feel like I am just getting started.  One of the people I can count on to read this blog on a regular basis is my wife, Melissa. She says she reads it to find out what I am thinking. I’m a pretty private person – a true introvert – and I spend a lot of time inside…