Personal

When I was a kid (some time before the Civil War ) life wasn’t quite as convenient as it is today. This was before email, personal computers, microwave ovens, etc. While I didn’t grow up in poverty, my family was not by any stretch of the imagination wealthy. I got lots of hand-me-downs, didn’t have the latest toys, clothing, etc., and if anything I had broke, guess what? We didn’t just throw it away and replace it. We mended it.

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Have we become so familiar with God in our “culture” that He no longer draws from us awe and wonder? Has God become a cosmic buddy, or life coach? I fear that this might have happened in my life and I fall in the danger of esteeming him lightly, which is to say, dishonoring Him. And how about the Church? Has God ceased to strike a healthy and good sense of awe in its people? What about our nation, our world?

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Tossing and turning at night, troubled by that one issue that you have no way of knowing, no way to control, and no absolute certainty of the outcome?

Through the years, I’ve had plenty of things to worry about. There were months of unemployment, wondering if we’d be able to pay the rent, keep the lights on, life -threatening family health issues, sudden deaths of friends and loved ones, etc. Lean times, scary times with which I’m sure many can relate. It was stressing the heck out of me and I could easily lose sleep over it. After all, what else could I do but my best?

Then I realized, I had a choice.

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Just a few hours before I heard the news about the Boston Marathon bombings today, my son and I were having a discussion about terrorism, what it meant, fighting it militarily, and as civilians. What it boiled down to was this: Terrorists seek to win by changing our lives, robbing us of our peace and security…

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So, a good friend of mine who is a bestselling author, brilliant entrepreneur, and publishing/marketing genius named Aaron Patterson posted the following today on facebook:

I know asking advice on Facebook is asking for trouble but I am not sure what to do so maybe some of you have something to say that I can use. My problem is with my 7 year old daughter. She is a slob and almost a hoarder. She keeps everything and packs it away in her room…

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So this morning, I hear the panicked cry of my daughter (whose hamster Diana just passed away a month ago), “Daddy, Gracie’s not in her cage.”
Gracie joined the family a week after Diana passed away and as she’s so new to the home, we’ve been super careful with her. Or so I thought.

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Well, it’s the day after a really great book launch and life seems to have returned to normal. Before diving into the completion of the next book, I took some time off from writing to work with my son on the new hobby he’s roped me into. I actually love that he is into this, because I can live out my childhood dreams vicariously through him.

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Not including cute picture books. I’m talking about chapter books. I’m not certain because it was almost half a century ago, but the one that I remember most from my childhood was…

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Has anyone ever laid down their life for you, in living or in death?

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Are you guilty of outsourcing your relationship with your kids?

I’m not judging, don’t worry. I’ll admit, there are times I’m grateful for the iPhone, the television or video games that I let my kids play with, when I’m extremely involved or busy working on a deadline. But have you noticed a new phenomenon happening during family dinners in restaurants? Something that never happened some ten or fifteen years ago?

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