Rite of Passage: The Greatest Medicine
It was our second day in Budapest. Our team had spent the first day getting over jet lag and acquainting ourselves with our new surroundings. This morning, we were to start working with a group of church planters about an hour south of the city. Our teams always travel with a 75-pound public address system nicknamed “Barney” since its original case sported the same color of purple as Barney the dinosaur. We had taken a train to this...
Rite of passage: The best-laid plans
Our Christmas and New Year’s Day can best be summed up with the words of Robert Burns in his poem, “To a Mouse”: “The best-laid plans of Mice and Men go oft awry.” I think the mice made out better than we did. Our family had planned to gather on Christmas Eve, enjoy a meal, open presents and have our family photo taken. We seldom have all of our family in one room at the same time, but Erin, my daughter-in-love, had orchestrated this...
Rite of Passage Parenting: 7 New Year’s Resolutions for Other People
I have a gift. I really do. I have the gift of making New Year’s resolutions for other people, although I’m no good at making them for myself. Like other spiritual gifts, God must give this one to an individual to bless the masses. So here are your resolutions for next year: I resolve not to pick my nose in the car. I don’t know how many times I’ve pulled up alongside another car and seen someone picking their nose. You...
Rite of passage: ‘Do you hear what I hear?’
It’s no secret that I love this time of the year, especially the music that accompanies it. For reasons known only to God, each year, a single song resonates through my heart and soul. It is never the same song two years in a row; last year, it was “Little Drummer Boy.” The “Pa rum pum pum pum” filled an endless loop that repeated continuously in my mind from November through mid-January. These songs play when the radio is off; they...
Rite of passage: ‘Goooood job, Poppy!’
The other day, I went to help my son Caleb paint the inside of the previously-owned home he just bought. I enjoy these tasks, as they give us some quality time together. But this day, I was particularly excited because I got to hang out with Titus the Honorable and Cohen the Goodhearted. Cohen came by as I was climbing up the ladder and watched as I meticulously cut in the living room ceiling. He yelled up, “Good job, Poppy, goooood...
