I wear plaid. I'm a blogger.

There were 3 options for my preschoolers to choose from: Honey Bunches of Oats, Cocoa Pebbles, or Raisin Bran. I set all 3 on the table and asked each child which cereal they would like to eat for breakfast; all three chose 'Honey Boats.' After pouring their cereal and getting each kid situated, I poured myself a bowl of Raisin Bran and we all got to munching. When Isaiah (my oldest) finished his cereal first he asked if he could have more. Sure thing, which one do you want?  "That one" *pointing to the Raisin Bran* Surprised I pour him a bowl of Raisin Bran, surprised that he ate the entire bowl. As we were cleaning up our bowls from the table after breakfast I realized that the Cocoa Pebbles were not touched this morning, not even mentioned. Odd,  I thought, typically the chocolately-sugary cereals don't last a week at our house . And yet this is the same [big] bag of Cocoa Pebbles that we opened over a month ago. Why the sudden lack of interest? ******...

During a meeting with several other Cincinnati area worship ministers last week we got to talking shop about Christmas/Christmas Eve services; who was doing them, who was not, how many and what time. I was intrigued (neither positive nor adverse reaction) to find that roughly a third of the churches represented were not having any kind of Christmas Day services, even though Christmas morning is a Sunday this year. Yet there was one leader (Reggie) who said that their church has a Christmas morning worship service every year regardless of whether it falls on a Sunday . Initially this shocked me. How could this be? Why  would this be? Why have a church service every Christmas? Why not stay home and eat cinnamon rolls and open presents like the rest of America? Reggie said many of the people who expect this from his congregation are not native North Americans. Initially Reggie was against the idea, but once he realized how many people from his congregation wanted  to have a Chr...

Today is our baby's due date.  Katie and I are on pins and needles waiting to meet this newest member of our family. Katie is aware of every little contraction and twinge, wondering if maybe that  is the onset of labor. Or no, maybe that one  is! It's a very unique season of advent in the Read household. The doctors gave us a due date of Sept 21 but in all realit y  "about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Mark 13:32). So we wait to see the timing that God has picked out for us, knowing that His timing will be perfect, and knowing that the doctors should have just given us a ballpark (late September) time instead of a specific date (it's okay medical staff, we forgive you).  All this anticipation has me thinking: what if God gave us a gestational period so that we could better understand how His 2nd coming will be?  Here are some similarities that I believe God gave us so that we can bet...

A friend of mine sent me a link to a song called " Falling Into You " by Hillsong Young and Free . This group of musicians intentionally creates music for younger believers and everything they do is designed to engage young people on their level. Chances are when you watch the music video there will be many things you really like about the video...along with many things you will classify as " not my style ." Am I right? Here's what struck me in particular about this music video: the backing vocals are singing their little hearts out...and you can't hear a single note they're singing. You can hear that there are other people singing other than the lead, but there is no clear distinction of voices. Maybe we are just hearing the crowd sing along, maybe it's the backing vocals, maybe it is a pre-recorded layer of backing vocals...either way, it seems that the vocalists on stage are there predominantly to provide a certain atmosphere. They dance, they m...

When I hit my adolescent years my dad required that before I date any girl I needed to talk to her father first. One of these conversations sticks out in my mind above the rest. I was talking to Don about wanting to date his daughter. He was open to the idea but wanted me to know what his view was on dating (and subsequently what his girls had grown up being taught). He told them to view dating like grocery shopping: feel free to explore with different kinds of guys and use those relationships to teach you what kind of attributes you want to look for in your future spouse. I was a bit shocked. I had grown up with the understanding that the more dating relationships you entered, the worse off you would be by the time you got married. I was at a crossroads, trying to decide which school of thought I ought to subscribe to. Ultimately I decided that the idea of dating around wasn't for me. Years later I married one of my best friends, knowing that we already had chemistry because...

A couple years ago my wife and I got a chance to visit a dear college friend who now lives in San Diego. San Diego is a beautiful city. The weather seemingly is always a balmy 86--with a 3 degree swing cooler overnight. No matter where you are in the city you are only 20 minutes away from a view of the Pacific Ocean. I'm pretty sure that the Garden of Eden may have actually been San Diego pre-flood era or something. My guess is that if you were to ask someone born and raised in San Diego, they wouldn't have nearly the same excitement that Katie and I had. After all, we all get bored with what surrounds us. When someone with an oceanfront property wakes up, they don't sit and gawk at the ocean the same way a Midwest American would. Someone from the West Coast likewise might be intrigued by the symphony of cicadas on a summer night in Ohio because they are unfamiliar with that experience. We get so ingrained in our habitual routines that many (...

Yesterday my church family got together and had a party. It was a hot, muggy day in Cincinnati but we didn't let that stop us from getting together and playing games together and eating food. Fun authenticates forgiveness and helps build real -ationships (see what I did there?) in a way that attending church services and Bible studies alone cannot do. It gives us a chance to see each other sweat, wear gym shorts, spill water, eat cookies, and laugh out loud. It was a sweet time. The lunch arrangement was for everyone to bring a side dish to share. Dale and a few others prepared hotdogs and meat while everyone's side dishes lined a table in the shade. Everyone brought something to the table and there was plenty left over for people to take home. Watching the potluck unfold gave me some new fodder for my theological brain: The Church was designed to be a potluck experience. Everyone brings something to the table and each of our unique dishes combine to create a whole dinner...

Once you learn how to ride a bike (say, as a child), it is very easy to pick it back up again, even in old age. Psychologists have invested valuable resources to discover why our brains work this way. I have done my own research and drawn a fascinating parallel with spirituality. Here is what I have discovered: A wise man once said, "You are tempted more by what you've experienced than what you are curious of." It would have been prudent of me to abide by the counsel of my father but I was curious to find out whether this was really true or not. It turns out, it is. I could recount to you numerous times in which I stumbled into some sinful behavior and unknowingly found myself shackled by the guilt and shame of that behavior and repeating the process of it again and again with no plan of escape. Likely, you could recount numerous stories back to me. Perhaps it was stealing for you, or maybe pornography. You were simply curious to see what all the buzz was about. ...

Have you ever put your foot in your mouth? No, I don't mean literally placed your foot into your open mouth. You probably haven't done that since you were 6 months old and learned that you were capable of controlling those things at the end of your body. I mean, have you ever said something and then immediately regretted having said it? I have. Numerous times. The most recent was while I was teaching an after school choir class to some inner-city kids. They were acting out and being intentionally hurtful to each other with their words and acting disrespectful and I had reached a boiling point. I was talking to one of the 5th grade boys trying to show him that he was in the wrong and get him to chill out and after one too many backlashes I firmly told him to "shut up." No sooner were the words out of my mouth then I was regretting having said it. Naturally the kids who heard me say it all piped in that I wasn't allowed to say that and said they were going to ...