Category: Reflections

Lots of thoughts lately about next steps for the FREEDOM TOUR. How can we do more for the kids at the Home of Hope? Who can we bring into the circle? Where is God leading us? All great, meaningful questions worth asking, but as I scan the list of What’s Next possibilities I realize I need to add […]

The 22 kids at the Home of Hope are victims. Or they were victims until the folks at Project Rescue removed them from a situation over which they had absolutely no control. As you might imagine, I get a lot of questions about the notion of being a victim, whether I felt like a victim, etc. I know the precise time and […]

A few weeks ago my bike’s rear derailleur got slightly out of adjustment. It wasn’t bad enough to make the bike unrideable, but you could tell something was a tiny bit off. You couldn’t see anything wrong, but the chain just didn’t quite feel right. It took about a quarter-turn of an adjustment screw to get everything […]

Seems like everyone’s taking sides. We’re divided along political lines, racial lines, gender, social, ethnic, cultural, generational lines. We’ve drawn lines everywhere, and it seems like everyone is supposed to pick a side. Stranger still, we’re all pretty sure God’s on our side. Thing is, dividing and taking sides isn’t what God does. We have […]

They focus on the wrong issues. They create illogical arguments. They stretch the truth and spin the story. They yell and treat others disrespectfully. Generally, they do all sorts of stuff that drives us nuts. And we spend a ton of time complaining about it. We write articles and make speeches. We protest. We fill our […]

If he pushed me first? If they were rude, or yelled at me? If she posted something unfair? If I didn’t begin the conflict, why should I be the one to take a step back? He started it! # # # “Good questions. What’s the fear?” “What fear? I’m not afraid of anything!” “Then why […]

What do you believe? Okay, you belong in that bucket over there. With them. Where do you live? Oh, you’re one of those. Education level? Oh dear, you go over there. You’re an addict? Okay, not too sure about that. Homeless? Well, uh, er, … We all do it to one extent or another. As an […]

“You have to decide in advance.” The guys sitting around the circle looked confused so I let it sit for a few moments. Finally one guy asked, “How can you do that? How can you decide in advance when you don’t know what’s gonna happen?” “What do the rest of you think?” Quiet…the kind of […]

Would you agree that there’s more to good driving than “not running into stuff”? As a kid I developed the really bad driving habit of staring at oncoming traffic. Makes sense, right? Oncoming traffic is the biggest danger, so why wouldn’t you watch it carefully? The problem, of course, is that you tend to steer […]

Somewhere along the line I learned to worry. I got really good at it, and as a young adult the notion of NOT worrying about stuff seemed really odd. In fact, I worried when I wasn’t worried. When I finally figured it out, I realized that I somehow equated not worrying with not caring. In […]

Yesterday I talked about a circle of unconditional respect. I love this simple notion, which I owe to my friend Eric Larsen. Here’s how I described it to my students. When you step into the blue circle you agree to acknowledge the basic human dignity of every other person. Since you agree to stay in the circle, you […]

Should students respect their teachers? Of course they should. Over at Bouncing Back today I explained why everyone, as a child of God, ought to be treated with dignity and respect. So what if it doesn’t happen? What if others fail to treat you respectfully? As a teacher, I quickly surrendered the notion that my position would […]