I wear plaid. I'm a blogger.

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. ...