I wear plaid. I'm a blogger.

I sit down at the piano to play the same piece I've played a hundred times before but this time my heart races, my pulse quickens, my fingers twitch. What is different? The recorder is listening. It is amazing to see how the human mind reacts differently under pressure compared to free time. Once the record button is pushed, there is no going back, no redos, no fix-it spots. Either you spoil the recording or you nail it. Sure, you can go back and do another take, but the same problem will be true for that take--you've got to nail it then too. Yet, in spite of this added stress, it is far more "fun" to play for a live audience, or a live recorder because of the added pressure of the outcome. The same way it is more enjoyable to play a game with scorekeepers and an umpire compared to a pick-up game in the backyard. This is why a YouTube video consisting of one take is so much more thrilling than multiple camera angles and patching together of various takes. This i...

We've all heard the familiar adage: "Do as I say, not as I do." It's a cover up of our own shortcomings. It's a way of saying, "Look, I know what the right thing to do is here, but I probably won't do it, but you should." At any rate, at some point we all have felt like the victim of this phrase and we have probably all used it, much to our own chagrin. A couple days ago I was reflecting on Jesus challenge to "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them everything I have commanded you." ( Matt 28:19-20 ) If we are called to be Jesus' disciples then that means we ought to say and do the things that Jesus says and does. It's only logical, right? Well I have spent much of my life reading through the gospel narratives, listening to weekly sermons, reading Christian literature, and studying the Bible in small groups. While I consistently learn something new every time I read the Word of God and focus on Jesu...

Everyone loves a good story. Most of us read the story from the front to the back, because we enjoy the way the plot unfolds--we love the twists and the turns and the unexpected finale. And the thing that makes a good story good is equal parts predictability and surprise. We have to have some structure to the story--some predictable patterns that we can pick up on in order to fully picture the setting of the character. There need to be expected points in the story where our main character meets someone else; there needs to be a moment of tension and struggle where we see the character wrestle with some inner or outer enemy. But then there also needs to be some surprises planted along the way. Moments where we learn something new about the character that we didn't know before. Moments where the plot takes an unexpected turn that we would not have guessed. Because, after all, if we can predict the whole thing, we might as well not read it to begin with! Katie loves ...