Rick Nier...Woo!

The goal of encouraging has nothing to do with the consequences to ourselves. Two of my kids run cross country. Before I had kids run cross country I assumed it was even less exciting to watch than it sounds. Seriously, I’m running for two reasons; if someone is chasing me or if there’s still some dessert left. As a parent I now drive hours on a school night so I can watch my kids run for about fifteen minutes. The upside is we get takeout after. At least one of us has earned it. Middle school cross country is basically watching people run, wondering if they will one day be faster. I also wonder which of the of the middle schoolers did something really awful that caused their parents to force them to run. The Benefit of Cross Country Here's what cross country has a greater amount than any other sport; encouragement. By everyone. For everyone. My kid. Your kid. First place. Last place. The real last place when you didn’t realize some kid was still running the race. There’s no yellin...

I recently read a post by a Christian author who was coming out. Because, hey, celebration. (If you're deciding right now whether or not to continue reading, I get it. But the first line is not the crux of my thoughts here today.) His wife, according to his post, was supporting it. They were working on the next steps, which would obviously include happy celebratory events like divorce and a broken home. (Are you still deciding whether or not you'll finish? I get it.) But I'm not going to attempt to defend an institution, marriage, that has long since lost its foundation in the eyes of society. At this point, I hope we can agree marriage seems to have become something people do when they feel like it. (So if I'm not writing to defend my marriage, you might wonder what my purpose is here today. Thanks for asking!) What struck me about this author's post was the end. He said he would block anyone who tried to confront him or had any judgment for him.  Wait, that's ...

Upset. Yeah, that’s one word I have for it. But I have more.  Anger. Frustration. Tired. Over it. Fatigued. Disagreeable. Those are some more words I have. Life’s narrative that we call 2020 has brought on quite a few opinions, but I’m not sure any of us should be surprised. There’s over seven billion people on the planet and if you bring up any topic, ANY TOPIC, you’re going to get about as many opinions.  Corn or flour tortillas? Pepsi or Coke? Is a hot dog a sandwich? Should the words  oatmeal and  raisin ever be used in the same sentence as  cookie . The answer to that last question is yes. As long as the sentence is, please don’t ever put oatmeal and raisin into my cookie.  Lots of opinions, but we haven’t even gotten to the more important questions.  Should I be forced to wear a mask if I’m healthy? Should we send our kids back to school? Are there really only these two options for president? Are some of these officers murderers?  Woah, woah...

So, I haven't posted in a while...again...it's not corona, it's life keeping me busy. But I have something for you today, but it wasn't written by me. It was written by my wife, Jennifer. When she talks, I listen. Be encouraged! Dealing with Disappointment Is anyone else feeling it?  Day 17 of quarantine.  Social distancing.  Stay at home.  Church online.  School canceled.  Events canceled.  Spring Break trips canceled or put on hold.   This spring break my family had a big trip planned, which hasn’t happened for us in a very long time.  It’s our oldest daughter’s senior year of high school and we wanted to make it special and take a trip we’ve never taken before.  Flying to Orlando (which my children don’t remember ever flying as they were ages 6, 4 and 1), and fun in the sun for an entire week.  We booked the trip 8 months ago and have planned, planned and planned u...

You know those posts that talk about Jesus and then attempt to shame us into sharing? They are the ones that talk about how we share jokes every day but when something talks about Jesus, we just scroll on by.  Never mind they might be a repeat of an email we were forwarding to all our friends twenty years ago, the shaming is ridiculous. As if Jesus would only be convinced of our love for Him when we hit share on a social media post. But... There’s something they get right.  via GIPHY What Will We Hate on this Week? I was thinking about this the other day when I had a Nickelback song stuck in my head. (That’s right, I said it.) Everyone loves to hate on Nickelback, saying all their songs sound the same. That might be true. But if you like that one Nickelback song, then you’ll enjoy all of them.  The thing is Nickelback is the band everyone loves to hate...right now. But twenty years ago it was someone else. And isn’t there always a recent boy band...

The last few years have seen people selecting their word for the year. I’ve often wondered if those words should be their word for January.  Much like resolutions, these things tend to fade. via GIPHY But nevertheless, I have led my family these past few years into different streams of thought as we focused in on something that benefitted us by paying it attention.  There was the year of Adventure , a year my family will not soon forget.  There was the year of Extra , when we worked hard at pouring ourselves into the newest places God had placed us.  There was a year of Connection , where new roots were planted, new friendships developed.  So what now?  I almost hesitate because I feel lost in the moment. But what a moment! I have begun classes again, this one focused on prayer and bringing with it 6 books for reading. That’s right. Six books. Eight weeks.   I’m sure it’ll be fine.  The one I’m curre...

Do you know what would make a great name for an epic hero? Nimrod. That’s right. Nimrod. The name you might hear relatives and friends calling someone they find to be stupid. Oh, wait, that doesn’t sound epic, does it? It didn’t to me either. But at one time... “Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.” ~Genesis 10:8-9 Nimrod was such a warrior that the next few verses detail the cities he built and the kingdom he established. Warrior, hunter, hero. Thy name is Nimrod. Making Your Own Great Name One would assume the name of the first mighty warrior to walk the earth would still be revered. But go ahead and tell someone they remind you of Nimrod and see how that goes over for you.  via GIPHY See, unlike other biblical names which are hard to spell and harder to pronounce, Nimrod now has a negative con...