Are you building a wall or creating a circle? Walls exclude. The very purpose of a wall is division, creating us and them. Mostly a wall keeps “them” over there and offers “us” some illusion of exclusivity or safety. Walls are often about fear, of the others, of those who seem different…of “them.” A circle – […]
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They Don’t Care
Probably not true. Too easy to dismiss folks who don’t jump into an issue like human trafficking or some other big-deal problem with “they don’t care.” Mostly, though, I believe people DO care. When they know about our 22 kids, about what they’ve endured, I have a difficult time believing they really don’t care. I […]
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Get Better Shoes
I like metaphors. Imagine your path, everywhere you turn, covered by broken glass. One solution: try to cover the entire world so you can walk in comfort. Or…cover your own feet with tough-soled shoes and move forward.* We can fuss about external circumstances that block our path, circumstances over which we often we have no […]
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Why You Should Show Your Work
Students typically don’t like to show their work. Often when I asked students to explain HOW? their explanation sounded a bit like the cartoon. “I did this…then a miracle occurs…and I got the right answer! Cool, huh?” Sounds silly, but I think we often do a similar thing when we share our stories. I think not-showing-our-work […]
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Hope And A Mirror
“Don’t cling to hopes.” My friend Jon wrote that a few days ago as he watched a robin in his backyard. And you’re expecting me to argue…but Jon makes a great point. Our hopes are based on the rear-view-mirror. Back there, I watched someone with a spinal cord injury walk out of the hospital. So I […]
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These Three Remain…
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” When you spend some of your final minutes making this kind of point, it’s probably pretty important. Earlier Jesus said it’s THE MOST IMPORTANT commandment, the one upon which everything else depends. LOVE is clearly Jesus’ most central, most […]
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A Living…Or A Life?
I recall only one detail from my 1969 campus tour at Iowa State University. Friendly student ambassadors explained procedures and traditions as they showed us around the main buildings. Here’s ISU’s Memorial Student Union, a wonderful, grand building dedicated to graduates who perished during WWI. Lots of history, a place of beauty and reverence. In the […]
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The Bike In The Garage
“I’ve got two bikes in my garage.” “Great. You should come and ride with us.” “Problem is, neither of them work.” “Maybe that’s not the problem,” I thought to myself. “Maybe the problem is that they’re hanging in the garage. A bike only ‘works’ if you get it down, pump up the tires, and ride […]
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Just Pick Up Your Corner
Four friends carried a paralyzed man to see Jesus. They were pretty determined. According to Mark the four friends fought through a large crowd, lugged their friend onto the roof, cut a hole, and lowered him into the room where Jesus was eating dinner. Lots of lessons in this familiar story, many sermons, tons of theology. […]
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Just Tell Me The Answers
“Can you help with homework?” The former math teacher occasionally gets a call, often on a weekend. And while I love to help, I’ve discovered I’m not a very good tutor. I was a big-picture type teacher, never believed in recipes or easy shortcuts. I wanted kids to work things out, figure it out for […]
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How Big Is Your Dream?
Thirty years ago I confronted an insurmountable obstacle. After spinal surgery and five weeks of recovery, therapists loaded me into my first wheelchair and rolled me into the hospital hallway where they’d placed a 10-foot strip of red tape. My first therapy goal was to push my chair 10 feet. I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t. […]
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Self-Help Or Hope?
Someone asked the other day if RELENTLESS GRACE is a self-help book. I laughed. In hindsight, that probably wasn’t the most sensitive response. I knew what he meant, but I chuckled at the notion that I somehow “helped myself” through the darkness of that horrible experience. RELENTLESS GRACE isn’t a story of self-help, it’s a […]
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