End of Term Blues

I remember how I would feel as a semester of college came to an end. The moment after the last final was filled with such a sweet sense of freedom. I remember yelling, “I’m Free!” while I jumped in my car to head home for the summer or Christmas. I’m 46 years old now, and I still haven’t experienced a more intense feeling of relief and joy.

I never thought of how the teachers felt. I confess that when I was a student, professors seemed like robots. Information-laden, lecture giving robots. They seemed very secure in themselves and far above me intellectually and socially. One of the things I love about reading professor J. Schaap’s blog, Stuff in the Basement, is that after all these years, I’m hearing it from the teacher’s point of view. In one of his latest pieces, he describes the “End of Sememster” blues.

“I’m not sure why I’ve got it, but at least I’m old enough to recognize the syndrome: I feel like some kind of eighth-rate teacher right now, facing my last week of the semester. I remember hearing about some world-class prof somewhere, someone so good that on the last day of class, his students gave him a standing ovation. I’ll be lucky to crawl out of the classroom without being dismembered.

Look, if the truth be known, many of my students don’t care a whole lot anymore, and neither do I. If the truth be known, I just want it over. I’m tired of selling goods to customers who look at me as if I’m in their way. I’m tired of all kinds of things, and, Lord knows, those students are more than tired of me.” Read More.

Stuff in the Basement - Writer & educator J. Schaap writes about life and the things that matter to him.

How Do You Define Success?

Everyone talks about success. Even preachers nowadays. They have sermon series about how you can be successful with God. But how do we define success, exactly? The truth is, your definition of success is a window into your soul. Your idea of success will show you your true values.

High Calling blogger Every Square Inch has asked the question. What does success mean to you? Why don’t you stop by and join the conversation by leaving a comment? We’d like to hear what you think.

I’d like to start an ongoing conversation about the topic of success - how we define it, how we pursue it and what it means to our lives. It might be a series of occasional posts or just a couple. Truthfully, I don’t know where this will go but I thought it might be interesting…Read More.

What Children Say and Do

Remember Art Linkletter’s “Kids say the darndest things” bit? There is a reason why that was so popular then, and people still talk about it now. Because it’s true. Children say and do things that surprise us. I am the father of three children. And I’m a pastor. Sometimes it can be a little uncomfortable when your child does something that seems a little…well, blasphemous. I remember when one of my daughters became convinced that an action figure looked like God. She walked around with this little “God” action figure for a time. It made me slightly uncomfortable.

Now that my kids are older, I’ve learned that children are just honest. They do not hold much back. It is a wise thing to give them a lot of latitude when it comes to their theological statements and actions.

Marcus Goodyear’s son loves pirates. And that’s cool. But what will he do when his son wants to plaster his Bible with pirate stickers?

“[My son] likes pirates. A LOT. Every day we play pirates at lunch. Nearly every night we play pirates. We hung cheap hammocks in our backyard, not because we want hammocks, but because pirates sleep in hammocks.

Then one day on the way to church, I discovered the pirate stickers on my son’s Gideon Bible. Hmmm.” Read More.

Good
Word Editing - Marcus Goodyear is a writer and editor for the H.E.B.
foundation.

Looking Carefully at Ourselves

Men and women typically use different body language and different voice cues when communicating. Many men have a tendency to be very direct, loud, demanding, and somewhat forceful. Men can be intimidating. I’m not talking about bad men here. I’m not talking about abusive men. I’m talking about good men, and I know something about men because I am one.

How many times have you been in a conversation and noticed men dominating it? And how many times have you noticed women hanging on the edges of the conversation. They might have great things to say, but it’s too much work to force their way into the conversation.

As a Christian man, I try to watch for these things. I see them all the time, even at church.

High Calling Blogger Kim Quon is trying to be a good husband. He is a brave writer in this regard. Recently he’s been writing about this very subject, about how men can display what is called “predator patterning.” Check it out. Good men pay attention to this kind of thing.

“I’ve been writing about the overt aspects of predator patterning that may seem obvious to you (or maybe not). Even though they may be obvious, these patterns are not easily interrupted…. Although this patterning is inwardly focused (selfish) it is usually not self-aware. In other words, because it comes so naturally, we don’t know we’re doing it when we’re doing it. Guys, if you are doubting that you act out in this patterning, the best way to find out is to ask the one closest to you. Ask your wife.” Read More

Preparation 4 Eternity - A blog for Christian husbands.

Who Wants to be a Garbage Man?

When I was about six, I wanted to be a garbage man. I waited for their truck on garbage day, jumping up and down and waving. I thought it would be wonderful to ride around hanging on the back of a truck. The garbage men on our street would always wave back at me. I was probably the only person who treated them like heroes. Years later, when I was an adolescent and much less intelligent, my father heard me making fun of the garbage men. He reminded me of those earlier days and said, “In the eyes of God, any honest job is has dignity.”

How true.

I was thrilled to read at “In the Daillies” about another little boy who thinks garbage men are wonderful. Oh to see the world again with the eyes of a child.

Today is garbage day. It creates some heavy excitement in this house. Zach, like most two-year-old boys, LOVES trucks. He can hear the garbage truck coming from around the block. He runs through the house screaming and jumping: “Truck coming, Mama!! Truck coming! C’mon. C’mon, Mama. Let’s go see garbage truck!!” Read More.

In the Dailies - Discovering the extraordinary God in ordinary life.

Say What You Mean

Communication is such a complicated thing. Mostly because we often don’t say what we mean. We say what we think others want to hear. We say one thing and hope people hear something else. We say what we don’t mean and get angry when people don’t hear what we do mean. What’s needed is clarity. Every relationship needs clear communication, but nowhere is that as important as in parenting. Children are not sophisiticated communicators. They need us to be clear with them. Writer and mother Tina Howard makes this observation in her latest piece about communicating with her young daughter.

“Mommy, will you play with me?”
“In a minute.”

“Mommy, can we go to the park?”
“Maybe later.”

These answers often roll off my tongue without much thought behind them. But when I stop and consider what I’m really thinking, I realize it is usually not what I am saying. Read More.

Spaghettipie - A mother writes about the high calling of being a parent.

If Only

We have always both dreaded and been fascinated by death. What happens to us when we die, exactly? Where do our memories and life experiences go? Christians have a clear hope that death is not the final chapter of our existence. Even so, no one knows what it is like to die. Real Live Preacher muses on the nature of loss and love in his latest piece - “If Only.“

The Old Rugged Cross

The Cross. What a powerful symbol. People of the ancient world would be horrified to see crosses hanging in our churches. They could not imagine what their symbol of death and torture has come to mean to us. Ironic, isn’t it? One of the cruelest punishments known to humankind, a symbol of love. Ironic, and just like God to do something exactly the opposite of what we expect.

Ann Voskamp, from Holy Experience, found old cross behind a church. Covered with moss and weathered, this ancient symbol brought meaning to her day.

“There is a patch behind the country church with its split rail fence, there beside the quiet of the woods, where heaven meets earth and I stand there in the early morning still. Clouds, grey and swelling with spring, loll over. Brown leaves, fall’s remnant left behind by winter just gone, lay wet underfoot. Only the sound of water trickling off the water mill there in the pond meanders up through the trees, asking me if I want to fall down too. I think that is why I came.

Tentative, I step closer and let my hand feel the weathered wood, wet from last night’s rain, of that Cross that grows out of the earth back here. An Old Rugged Cross.” Read More.

Creative Disagreements

There is a certain art to handling conflict. One part of that art is to be sure that you are dealing with truth and not taking your anger out on someone who doesn’t deserve it. Another part of that art is to be graceful in the way that you disagree. You can tell someone you disagree with them in a way that will almost certainly belittle them and hurt their feelings. Or you can turn a disagreement into a helpful dialogue.

Like I said, dealing with conflict is an art.

High Calling blogger Every Square Inch has some hints for disagreeing in constructive ways.

“Before jumping into how to disagree constructively, I’d like to say that it isn’t necessarily virtuous or loving to simply “tow the line” when you’re not in agreement. If someone is possibly making a grave mistake, choosing not to advise or warn them because we’d rather “keep the peace” is not loving. It could reveal what the Bible calls the “fear of man” which is a sinful response and a topic for another post altogether.

How do you agreeably disagree? Here are some of the things I try to keep in mind…” Read More.

Every Square
Inch - Conversations on the glory of Christ in
business and culture.

Where Do The Flowers Come From?

Carl Holmes has posted a piece of stunning and disturbing beauty. Perhaps all real beauty has such an edge to it. The fragrant flowers in front of the church he visited in a poor neighborhood in India have a surprising secret.

As we walked toward the church I could not help but notice a wonderful smell of fresh flowers. It was in stark contrast to the smell of death and pain all around us. What I slowly began to realize was that out in front of the church was a wonderful patch of flowers that were thriving and growing and they were absolutely gorgeous. I was shocked to see something so sweet and inviting in the midst of the living circumstances I was seeing. Read More

Thoughts of a Gyrovague: A place for the musings of the mind about life, Christ, and the pursuit of He who gives all good things

Next Page »