Why Trump is the Wrong Choice Even if You Oppose Abortion

“I know, as a Christian, I have to vote for Trump, but I just really don’t want to.”

So said a good friend of mine in hushed tones at a church gathering before the 2016 election. This woman is near…

They Will Know We Are Christians by Our …

I saw one too many Christian post, saw one too many Christian comment and heard one too many Christian giving their perspective on world events. And now, I’ve got to respond. You don’t have to read, but I can’t hold this in.

It’s a Free Country

You do not have a constitutional right to say whatever you want, however you want, whenever you want to whomever you want. You just don’t. Not even a little. You do have a right to censorship, or said another way, laws protecting you from certain kinds of speech. If that sounds backwards to…

Remembering v. Honoring

I’m a little surprised by the wide spread, apparent confusion between remembering history and honoring that history. How are we getting those things confused? I don’t want us to forget the dark parts of history because they are such fertile grounds for learning. And to pretend they…

Who do you Love?

Uh oh. I let my guard down and allowed some thoughts to build up inside me and now I have to let them out. Just think of what my poor family had to endure before I could write stuff on the internet. Ok, now some thoughts.
I spent some time yesterday with people who love people. I don’t mean they…

Certainty

The best way to be wrong is to be certain.

Western thought and culture have been driven in large part by a search for certainty to the point that it has become perhaps our pinnacle virtue and most powerful idol.

Show and Tell (2017)

Earlier this year, the place where I church (#makechurchaverb) offered a show and tell class for all ages. From youngest to oldest, my friends brought in things that brought them joy or made them feel loved or connected them to their faith. It was an experiment and it was one of the most…

Mixed Feelings Part 2

I have mixed feelings. Still.

I posted about this recently in an attempt to say that having mixed feelings is a reality worth acknowledging. This is a time of strong feelings and strong feelings aimed in the right direction are necessary and good. But mixed…

This Too Will Pass

My Dad used to say, “this too will pass.” It was his way of reminding me and himself that nothing in this world is permanent. They were meant as words of comfort and I still repeat them as a mantra when things are rough. It does not change my circumstances but it changes me within them. Knowing…

I Don’t Get Cologne Ads

American marketing is hilarious. With just the slightest amount of awareness, advertising is non stop laughs.

Like, why is that guy in the cologne ad wearing a shirt and slacks and apparently doing important business with other people with his shirt unbuttoned…

You Can’t Close the Church

I saw today that more than 1,200 pastors in California have signed a petition signaling their intent to “resume corporate worship” by the end of this month ignoring warnings by health officials and in disregard of California’s stay at home order. This is being reported as a debate…

Three Party System?

Since you asked….by my count there are now three major political parties in the US. The Democrats, the Republicans and the people who support Trump. Trump is not and has never been a Republican. He stands for himself, always has and I suspect always will. It saddened me to see so many…

Happy Father’s Day (2020)

Some reflections on Father’s Day before another one is put to bed.

I am generally proud of my accomplishments. They are not plentiful or grand and usually came with lots of help but there have been a few times when I have done something I set out to do. And…

Monica, You Don’t Know Me, but I am Sorry

In the 1990s I was a devout Republican, which even as I type those words seems like something that should not exist for either party. Be a Republican or be a Democrat but be devout about your faith or family, not a large-amorphous-always changing political…

No Shot

I may have posted on this before, but there is little doubt left that my phone’s spell check has an agenda. First off, there are some words it doesn’t like me to say. And I have no idea why. If I type the word “pissed” it autocorrects to “kissed” 100% of the time. As a result, many people in my life are likely…

A Debt to Truth

Every lie that’s told owes a deficit to the truth. At some point that deficit has to be paid.

That’s a paraphrase of my favorite line from the HBO limited series Chernobyl commenting on the Soviet lies and cover up.

Birthday Wish List (2019)

My birthday is coming up and I never do this, but I’ve decided to make a list of things I want as birthday gifts since I know people everywhere long to shower me with presents but remain flummoxed on what to get a guy who already has a family like mine. Well, fear not. Here is a…

Impeachment Hearings (2019)

Here is my take on the impeachment hearings, just in case you were wondering. I held back as long as I could, but I feel like I have to say this.

I admire people who are principled and who act on those principles with passion and conviction. But only when…

Senator Harris

To be honest, if it were not for the need to depose Trump I would probably not be voting for Biden. And, I generally disagree with Kamala Harris’s politics as well. But the potential positive impact of having a woman of color in such a high profile leadership position in this country cannot be…

Happy Mother’s Day (2020)

Some end of the day Mothers Day thoughts…
There is obviously a biological component to motherhood. It is a miracle and something properly revered and celebrated. 
But that is only the beginning and what comes next are millions of choices about how you treat someone looking to you…

Mixed Feelings

2020 has been a banner year for strong opinions and the forceful voicing of those opinions. Some stuff that needed to get said got said or is getting said. Some stuff I wish had never been said also got said. And there is a 100% chance all of that will continue. That’s ok. I’ve been part of that. I…

Consecutive Christianity

When you have a bunch of different important things to do, you can choose to try to do all of them at once or you can prioritize them and go one at a time. I feel like Christians have mostly taken a concurrent approach to what they see as their obligations. In other words, Christians…

The Week They Shot George Floyd

I have wanted to post on Facebook this week because so much has happened that turns my stomach and breaks my heart and makes me angry and I have felt a pull to say something. Something!

No Groundhog Day

If I suddenly had the power to relive every moment until I acted exactly like I would later wish that I had, I might never progress beyond the first day.

As difficult as it seems, perhaps failure and forgiveness is actually a better system.

Thank You for Your Patience

I think the thing I get too much credit for the most is my patience. Restaurants and other businesses are constantly thanking me for it and yet, let me tell you, it is undeserved.

Multi-Slacking

As people close to me are fond of pointing out, I am not good at multi-tasking. However, one of my underrated skills is that I am quite good at is multi-slacking. If you ever need someone who can listen to a podcast while watching SportsCenter and surfing eBay for collectible sneakers all while…

Simmer Down

Before you let yourself get all worked up, just take a breath and consider what it is costing you versus what it is adding to someone else. I don’t think that should be your only consideration, but I think it’s a good filter to keep yourself from accidentally being a jerk buoyed by the mistaken belief that…

Insanity

Some of you who know me well or read the nonsense I put on Facebook know that from time to time I rant about cliches that I would like to see retired or at least used substantially more sparingly. Today’s nominee: (and forgive me if you’ve heard me say this before) “The definition of insanity is to keep doing…

When Defending

Let me try to clear something up. Defending someone’s actions by saying someone else did something bad too or that someone else did something worse is not a defense at all. You can see that right? For example if someone said “Dave told a lie” and you wanted to defend Dave, saying “yeah but Hanna told…

Defending a Racist is Racism

I’m afraid some of my friends do not understand that defending and supporting a public figure who is unapologetically racist is a form of racism.

Absolute Truth

Some comments from some wise friends on a different post have me contemplating the concept of absolute or objective Truth. It occurs to me that everything or nearly everything I once considered “True” I now consider at most to be a working hypothesis. I do not deny the existence of Truth, I merely…

The Nashville Statement (2017)

Lately my Facebook “news” feed has been inundated with posts related to the so-called “Nashville Statement.” For those of you fortunate enough to not know what that statement is, it is basically a formal statement made by a few self-appointed Christian “leaders” answering a…

I know, I know

I know many secrets to happiness. I just lack the discipline to implement them.

Just Admit It

I think one sign of intellectual and emotional maturity is the ability to accept when you are proven wrong rather than doggedly continuing to defend a position simply because you would rather be wrong than admit it.

Party Like it’s 99?

Sometimes the posts on my Facebook feed make me think my food is woefully under-photographed. And sometimes it makes me think things like that It seems many people who take the Bible as divine instruction would say that its wisdom and teachings transcend any particular time and place. And yet…

Mercy = Self-Awareness

I have found in my life that my capacity for mercy is directly linked to my level of self-awareness.

Happy Father’s Day (2017)

Happy Father’s Day.
Becoming a father is dangerously easy. Being a good father is the hardest thing I have ever attempted. It is a full time job with no off days that leaves me constantly wondering if I am profoundly screwing the whole thing up. It is 10,000 judgement calls everyday…

Spare Some Change?

If you are someone who struggles with or generally dislikes change, consider this: The same status quo that brings you comfort might be holding someone else down or causing them pain. So, embracing change in your life might actually be a tremendous gift you can give to someone else. Perhaps at…

Don’t be a Jerk

I don’t set out to be a jerk. I still think most people could say the same. But it is tough sometimes to know whether I am being one. I can examine my own intentions, but I know enough to know that intending to not be a jerk is very much not the same as actually not being a jerk. So I’ve tried to…

Pen Pal

I have a 13 year old pen pal. It is not your traditional pairing of unmet friends swapping stories of their daily lives over some geographical gap. Rather, we became friends because her parents and I are good friends and a few months ago she honored me with an unusual and unexpected invitation to be a sort of…

Josh the Lawyer

Did Chance the Rapper think we were going to confuse him with Chance the astrophysicist or Chance the ballroom dance instructor? Here’s a fun game. If you were going to follow the same naming convention what would come after “[your name] the _______”? and what do you wish it was? Like, I might be…

Moms

People talk about the greatness of Moms because they literally give us life. As things a person can do for another person, that’s about as big as it gets. But after a lovely lunch with my Mom today, I was reminded that my Mom keeps giving me life. The first time was biological, but since that day she has been building…

Give Me Five

Why is it that when you give someone 5, they return the 5, but when you give a high 5, it’s just the one mutual 5? And why does no one give 10 any more?

News Flash (2018)

Apparently there is a “behind the scenes” book coming out today about the Trump White House which will reveal that Trump often acts like a spoiled child and is/was woefully unprepared to be President. Other expected startling revelations include that the sun is hot and Americans like fried food.

What are Your Thoughts on Child’s Pose Your Holiness?

China was upset when Lady Gaga met with the Dalai Lama in Indianapolis where they discussed yoga. I don’t even have a joke here, I just wanted to write that sentence. it is perhaps the strangest true thing I’ve ever written.

What’s Worse?

What’s worse? Being aware that people working for the president were paying other people to break into his political rival’s office to gather information that might give him an upper hand in an election and then taking steps to hide his involvement….or….threatening a foreign government with holding up…

Rare Soccer Reference

In the game of foreign relations Trump continues to lead the league in own goals.

Parenting Teenagers

Parenting teenagers means never having to worry that any of your words or actions will go unscrutinized.

I Made This Up

Do you ever make up your own “sayings” and then repeat them so often that you forget you made them up and not everyone says them? No? errr….me neither. Of course not. But if I did, here are 3 I would say all the time, though I may not be the first one to say any of them. If you did, what would yours…

No. Excuse Me!

Here is something you might not know about me. Whenever I am in a long line that is blocking where other people are trying to walk, those people will always choose to cut through the line right in front of me. It’s not a complaint, just an observation. 100% of the time I am in a line like that people…

But It’s So Much Fun!

Of the many teachings, precepts and commands in scripture I fail to heed, I believe the one I unintentionally contravene and often eschew more consistently than any other is Ephesians 6:4 which reads: “Fathers, do not exasperate your children.” It may be my spiritual gift.

4th of July (2019)

Happy Birthday America! 
First, I’d like to apologize for the clown we hired for your birthday party. Believe me I would get rid of him if I could. He is the literal worst I know and while the stuff he has planned is sure to be super lame, I hope it won’t spoil the whole party.
Just remember…

If

If I had studied philosophy and were someone inclined to share his opinions I might say things like “when wisdom is spoken, pride is the earwax.”
If.

New Years Resolution (2017)

Here’s one of my new year’s resolutions. To be less snobby. For most of my life, there is a bunch of stuff I have been snobby about. I’ve been a grammar snob, a music snob, a movie/tv snob, a food snob, a shoe snob, a Bible snob, a sports snob, and more. Much more I’m afraid and…

She Would Have Marched (2017)

Of the millions of things I love about my lovely wife Tanya, one of the best is her devotion to our boys. Tanya was/is understandably outraged by our President’s views on and treatment of women, as was I, and clearly millions of others. If that wasn’t bad enough, people who…

Some Truth

An important component that fuels the power and impact of any idea is the ability to articulate that idea. But the articulation of an idea, no matter how artful, does not imbue that idea with truth.

Selling v. Loving

I believe truth and love are allies and should never be presented as opposing forces.
I had lunch today with one of my favorite theologians (a title he would not likely take for himself). Our discussion made me think, which is one of the best things anyone can do for me. Specifically it made me…

Watergate Forever

I’ve been waiting and waiting for some scandal to overpower Watergate enough that we can stop calling every scandal “_______-gate.” I mean, hasn’t that poor hotel suffered enough? But that was a pretty huge deal so it’s tough. Surely though, a presidential candidate working with Russia to gain an…