I recently finished reading Mark Woods’s memoir, Lassoing the Sun: A Year in America’s National Parks. It was recommended to me by my wife, Marci. Even though she didn’t finish the book herself, she thought that it might be up my alley. … Continue reading
It’s dawned on me gradually, but there is a thriving hot dog culture in Ohio’s Mahoning County that doesn’t seem to exist in other parts of the state. I started becoming aware of it this past Spring, when I happened … Continue reading
“Why should the fire die? Our Mom and Dad kept theirs alive…” These words from my favorite Nickel Creek album kept thrumming in the back of my mind, as Marci and I hiked the trails of an obscure nature preserve … Continue reading
I can’t remember the last time I read a whole book in a single day. Yet here I am: 3:58 in the afternoon, all 360 (small) pages of Douglas Coupland’s Life After God finished, consumed, digested. And I feel wired, … Continue reading
I just finished two days of meetings with some of our longest-standing, most-generous, and most-meaningful ministry partners. My mission agency calls this “Cultivation,” as a subset of “Ministry Team Development” — and this seems like an apt metaphor to me, … Continue reading
Monday afternoons are for Special Things. I built this into my schedule twenty years ago: initially as a part of the week where I could take time off work to allow Marci to get time for herself. I started taking … Continue reading
I became a serial victim of extortion in my first couple of hours after landing in London. Gosh, I was such a naïve, little, American tourist… A lamb being led to the slaughter… First, I allowed myself to be upsold … Continue reading
We were out over the Atlantic Ocean, on our way from the Netherlands to the United States. I decided to rewatch the “Sunflowers” (Amsterdam) episode of Ted Lasso — now that our family had concluded the show’s third and final … Continue reading
I had already filled up 56 (of an eventual 84) pages worth of my Leuchtturm1917 journal before our family even made it to Amsterdam. So, it felt kind of amazing that I was able to purchase a new journal at … Continue reading