I have a most wonderful father-in-law.  Our initial meeting was a rocky one, when my hair was longer and I lived in Ohio leading him to mistakenly think I was a Yankee, which is South Carolina, home of Fort Sumter, is still a live issue.  When I asked for the hand of his only daughter during our sophomore year of college, he balked and seemed to need to do due diligence on me with the CIA first.  But he came around and has embraced me as if I were another son. I never understood in-law jokes.  Mine are terrific and … Continue reading Happiness is a Clear PET Scan

In case theological buzz doesn’t get to the world where you live, Rob Bell is a dynamic young pastor from Michigan who is an ordained hipster that a lot of young people and non-churched people read.  He writes simply and understandably, but he has cool titles and surprising substance in what he says.  Most preachers would look gross if they dressed and cut their hair like Rob (and lots of local megachurch preachers in various towns wind up that way—looking like your Dad trying to be cool—an old white male with a buzz cut and in clothes from five years … Continue reading Words, Hell, and Rob Bell

Graduations are that time when we realize we will likely wind up working for or paying taxes to the kid we picked on in fourth grade for the rest of our lives.  I feel for the graduates of 2011.  Their high school or college life was lived in the shadow of the Great Recession or whatever we will call this.  They have 9/11, two wars (2 and ½ if you count Libya), Katrina, the tsunami and, oh, yeah, no jobs out there.     Looks like the kid we picked on might have to tell us, “Sorry, I’ve laid off everyone but … Continue reading Practicing IS the Real Thing