Category Archives: life
Marriage and Tragedy: How Heartbreak Brought us Closer Together
Photo credit: flickr/sklathill
They say that tragedy can do two things to a marriage; it can bring you closer together or it can drive you completely apart. I’m here to share with you the silver lining in the heartbreak that recently rocked my marriage. I’m here to show you how it brought us closer than I ever thought it could.
Life with God: Punctured by Light While in the Company of Shadows
Photo Credit: flickr/Ehsan Khakbaz. Usage does not represent endorsement by the photographer.
I concluded my previous post by saying that we’ll find abundant life if we get to God, who is the life giver. While I am convinced that the statement is true, it is open to the misinterpretation that says ”get Jesus, and all of your problems will disappear.” Whether you’ve chosen to receive Christ or not, we both know that a problem-free life is not reality. So it matters how we define abundance. Is it the accumulation of good times, the absence of trouble, or something else completely opposed to conventional wisdom?
Denial or Despair? We’ve Got Heavy Lungs in Search of Holy Air
Photo credit: flickr/lauren.rushing. Usage does not represent endorsement by the photographer.
“The winds are coming,” he shouted with a sense of urgency, a prophetic warning from a pastor not known for making wild predictions about the future. Sitting in the congregation about two and a half years ago, his words made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Somehow, I knew that he was right. Something devastating (and ultimately miraculous) was about to happen in my life, but I had no idea what that thing was. It hit soon after, and when it did, everything changed.
The winds are coming. Maybe the winds have already arrived. Life, despite our best efforts, cannot be bridled. We will not be able to avoid the pitfalls of loss and deep pain, no matter how careful we are. If we’re not rooted in something greater, denial or despair will find a way to make a home in us, stalling our search for transcendent air.
[TELEGRAM] Forgiveness Will Renew the Vows of Marriage
The U.S. Assassination of a U.S. Citizen and the Nobility of Asking Tough Questions
A U.S. predator drone. Photo Credit: flickr/CliffStreetPhotography. Usage does not represent endorsement by the photographer.
ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper is a hero as far as I’m concerned. Tapper bothered to ask White House Press Secretary Jay Carney a few critically important questions about the U.S. government’s assassination of U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, after Awlaki was decimated in Yemen late last week by a missile fired from a U.S. predator drone. When given the political run around, Tapper didn’t shrink into his chair. Thankfully, he persisted.
A True Story of Love, Loss, and Miracles
Photo Credit: flickr/WolfSoul
On this day two years ago, a Snohomish County commissioner gave me the court authority to travel to Texas to remove my 6-year-old daughter from a house in that State and put her into my custody. The commissioner finished his ruling by hitting the podium and saying “I want that child back in Washington State NOW!” The courtroom, filled mostly with people I didn’t know, cheered and applauded, having heard all of the facts.
Two months before, in front of the same commissioner, we had lost the very same case. My daughter would be relocating to Texas, despite our legal objection, to live in a situation we knew little about. Finances and long distance parenting plans between Washington and Texas would confine our visits to once or twice a year. That loss brought on a hopelessness and a sadness of a magnitude that I’ve never experienced before. During those dark days in July following the relocation loss, our history together replayed in my mind.
Heartbreak and Hope
Photo Credit: flickr/christopherleonard
I’ve always worked really hard to be honest with all of you. I want anyone who takes a minute to stop by my little corner of the internet to feel like they’ve gotten the real me. The whole story. I try not to candy coat anything. With that in mind, I’m going to be completely straight with you.
The first post back from summer break was not supposed to be like this.
Nobody Wants to Talk About the Struggles of Being a Guy in His 30s
Photo Credit: flickr/Vick the Viking. Usage does not represent endorsement by the photographer.
I’ve heard two pastors that I respect confess that their 30s was a time of confusion, frustration and anger towards God and self. For them it was a decade of abrupt directional changes, unwelcome surprises, disappointments, and a sense that life’s challenges were at times snowballing out of control. It was boot camp for later life, basically.
I really appreciated hearing that because such a confession is rare, and it makes sense to me now for two reasons. One is- I am 32, and I feel like I live that life too often. The other reason is that many guys, myself included, spent much of their 20s being idiots and compiling mistakes. Many of us developed unhealthy appetites at that time, in order to provide cover and a distraction for the pain that grew out of trouble with parents, confusion over identity and career, and the wounds that we took away from failed romantic relationships. We were learning as life happened, and I don’t think a lot of us were prepared for it.
[TELEGRAM] Left vs. Right Politics, and Other Perishable Items
“Fill your mind with the meaningless stimuli of a world preoccupied with meaningless things, and it will not be easy to feel peace in your heart.” -Marianne Williamson
Poverty Tourism is Bad. Idle Opinions Are Worse.
Photo Credit: Lauren Ebright | The Broken Telegraph
A discussion has erupted on the internet about the dangers of poverty tourism. The critics argue that we really only make ourselves feel better about America’s disproportionate privilege while glossing over the complex issues of global poverty by visiting struggling countries for a bit of brief outreach. All of this broader talk is happening as my wife Lauren, her boss Matthew and I prepare to travel to Cambodia next week for 10 days in an effort to offer some support in that country.
There is definitely something legitimate to the concerns that have been raised about poverty tourism, but I would argue that focusing on such concerns is far more damaging than any misguided altruism. Here’s why.
Ian Ebright on When Christian Blogging is a Popularity Contest (and Other Snares to...
Ken Hagerman on When Christian Blogging is a Popularity Contest (and Other Snares to...
Jim Fisher on The Conclusion of the Heartbreak Series: Saying Goodbye
Yoga Rani on Why, as a Christian, I’m Not Joining the Fight Against Gay...
Beth on [TELEGRAM] When Temptation Taps You On The Shoulder
Tiffany Lucus on The Conclusion of the Heartbreak Series: Saying Goodbye