I wear plaid. I'm a blogger.

How to tell if your child is related to you, in 5 easy steps: 1) Does he choose to eat half a banana in one bite, smashing it into the deepest pockets of his cheeks to allow for maximum food storage while he chews? He probably picked up on that trick after watching you eat an entire piece of cake in one bite. Sure, he might almost gag on it, but he seems to be proud of himself so you should be proud too. 2) Does he crave seconds of chocolate milk shortly after you poured the first big cup for him? While technically you both know that milk isn't refreshing, you guzzle it down because it tastes so good. And why not tink your glasses together to create a little "cheers" moment while you do so? This is America, after all. 3) Does he request to eat cereal for lunch? Yes, lunch is technically one of those savory meals of the day, but when it's dad-and-me time, why not indulge with a little honey bunches of oats for lunch? Now that's nutrition! 4) Does he opt to ...

Last night Katie and I were blessed to attend a concert at CCU with some friends from church. Overall it was a very uplifting experience and was a great chance to enjoy quality Christian music and remember what was really important in this life. The evening was sponsored by LiveLove  who advocates for social justice globally. There was a 22 year old girl who spoke about her call to minister to girls in brothels in Greece, where women are regularly objectified and men are encouraged to visit brothels by peers and parents alike. There were some other crazy empowering stories that people shared about getting muddy in the trenches of Christendom working with the impoverished and underprivileged, but you can check out those stories on their website if you want to learn more there. The thing that I was really struck with while listening to the Christian artists was an overwhelming sense of forgiveness for my sins. I strive to live a life free of sin in my day-to-day routine that I...

I am going to pose two questions for you: 1)       Would you rather get paid $1,000,000 up front to work for me for 30 days, or would you rather I pay you a penny on the first day and double your salary everyday thereafter for 30 days? 2)       Would you rather start a Billy Graham-worthy revival or minister to one person over the course of a year? Let’s take a look at Question 1. Likely your gut instinct told you to take the million dollars and do the work. That would be a pretty sweet deal. But if you went with the penny route, you would see a much bigger yield in your income towards the end of the 30 days. By the end of first week you would be making less than a dollar a day and by the end of the second week you would still be making less than $85 per day. By the end of the third week however, you would be making over $10,000 per day , and by day 30 you would collect over $5million dollars in one day. Day 1: $.01 Day 2:...

So we got to see The Piano Guys in concert tonight. They were awesome. Some thoughts... Expression through music.  These guys are 100% expressive when they play. They are as genuinely expressive as any performer of music can be. Through happy/major passages there is a look of pure joy and pleasure on Steve's face. During descending minor passages a furrowed brow crosses his face. They are so connected to the music that their very performance of the music is lyrical.  I so often disconnect myself from the music in my analytical way. I try to understand it, I try to calculate how and why it is making me feel a certain way. It has been years since I just put on an album and listened to it from front to back just for the sake of enjoying music.  I wonder if I do the same thing with Christianity. Do I spend so much time trying to figure out God that I forget to just enjoy Him?  I find myself challenged to soak in music for art's sake and to soak in God just ...

Did you know that the active definition of the word "literally" is "figuratively"? Here is the active listing for " Literally " according to Merriam-Webster: 1:   in a  literal  sense or manner  :    actually   <took the remark literally >   <was  literally  insane> 2 :    in effect   :    virtually   <will  literally  turn the world upside down to combat cruelty or injustice — Norman Cousins> I am quite positive that sitting on some bookshelf in someone's home is a dictionary printed several decades ago. In that dictionary is a listing for the word literally which contains only one definition, and that being the literal one.  On a parallel vein, we see words imported from other languages such as "bitch" or "fuck" which have a literal definition in their native tongue, but when used in America, have taken on much stronger and much more crass interpretations...

I'm sitting here drinking a Redd's Hard Apple Cider. It's pretty good, but the fact remains that it isn't as good as a regular apple cider. The alcoholic content (8%) adds just enough bitter into the drink that it becomes unpleasant to drink. It isn't pure apples anymore. How often in our day-to-day routine do we drink the drink that the world offers us? Or even if you turn down drinking it today, are you allowing the world to pollute your drink for tomorrow? Are you settling for a mixed drink? Letting the world influence your decisions and disguise itself in the midst of truth? You see, the trouble with mixed drinks is that they are tasty, yes, but they also have a high bitterness content. Which, if you drink too deeply, you will alter your ability to think clearly. If you drink too often, you lose your ability to taste what is bitter and what is sweet. And eventually, you no longer need the sweet and you go straight for the bitter. We need to remember th...

Did you know that there are over 700 commands in the Bible? Well, now you do. And out of those 700+ rules, how many do you suppose you have kept/are keeping? Some of those commands are relatively easy to keep (do not murder, do not steal, do not make sacrifices to other gods, don't have sex with animals, or even the command to cut off the hand of a woman who grabs the testicles of a man who is in a fight with her husband --I have kept that last one by simply avoiding a naked wrestling match with a wife nearby looking like she had a firm grip). Some of those commands are harder to keep (don't shave the corners of your beard, honor your father and mother, stone and adulterer, let your yes be yes). And some commands are easy to keep, but we are simply too smart these days for them (keep the Sabbath holy, keeping fasting days, homosexuality, etc). It is some of these examples that have me particularly worried. When Jesus is questioned about why his disciples do not fast, H...