[This letter has been stripped of its personal identifiers and shared in hopes that it might be of benefit to someone else.] To my young black friend, I know we’ve had a lot of good conversations over the years, but there are some things I wanted to write down for

As I raise my kids, it is important to me to point them towards what is right instead of holding myself up as being what is right.  I try to be a good example for them for sure, but when I’m not, when I miss the mark, it is important

I’ve learned from Jesus, Julius Caesar, and my wife, that sometimes to make important changes in life, we need to remove all other options. In the ninth chapter of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells his followers, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must take up their cross (lay their everything down)

There is a limiting lie in our culture that hurts both us and our children. The thread of the lie goes something like this, “Infancy, babyhood, childhood, the teen years, and the twenties shouldn’t be taken seriously or treated as overly important. Goof off now, waste now, think of yourself

A couple of weeks ago after church my family and I loaded up the van and headed out of town for a quick two-day camping trip in the mountains.  As is typical for a pastor family when trying to get out of town on a Sunday, we hit the road

Maybe the “can’t-get-it-together,” doofus dad tropes found in sitcoms and movies over the last thirty years didn’t help cue you in, but present and engaged fathers are super important. In honor of Father’s Day, here are a few positive things to keep in mind about the significance of being a

There is part of a poem that has become an old saying, “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.”  It is the refrain in an 1865 poem by William Ross Wallace called, “What Rules the World.”  I highly encourage you to read it. Motherhood

There are just three of you at the moment – seven, five, and a little brother due around Christmas.  Maybe there will be a four of you one day.  I hope so and I’m writing this already thinking of you. Some people will say that it is morbid to write

Many people these days are pretty negative about marriage.  For many, the concept of two people saving themselves for each other and then making a lifetime commitment to love and be faithful to each other for the rest of their lives (once referred to as the virtue and spiritual practice

[This is a two-part series. Check out the first part HERE.] How do you teach children compassion while protecting them from harm? Suffering often enhances our ability to have sympathy and compassion for others. I want those qualities for my children. I want them to be sympathetic people, but I