Category: hmm… thoughts

  • Get up!

    Three thoughts Who in the world takes their kids to see the birth of a giraffe? I mean it’s cool and all. But that girl in purple was like a 3rd grader! I’d like to see a giraffe do the limbo. There’s a life lesson here: To eat, to live, to survive– you’ve got to…

  • 5 Birthday Quotes That Made Me Giggle

    Today, I officially got my “Middle-Aged Man Card” in the mail. I knew I was getting close to middle-age when conversations shifted amongst my friends from ambition, early married life, and comparing/contrasting theological themes in movies to longevity in ministry, vasectomies, and how much the movie rating system has changed since we were in high…

  • Run Your Moobs Off

    Moobs – Unsightly man boobies. Forget all of that Biggest Looser emotional stuff about being fat. “I don’t want my kids to know their dad is fat. I want to live longer. I need a new strart.” Yada. Yada. Yada. That’s all just TV psychobabble to me. If it works for you, awesome. But that show…

  • Caught between two religions

    If you are a fan of storytelling, and chances are good that you are, you need to subscribe to the Moth podcast. The Moth is a non-profit organization dedicated to the art of live storytelling. They put on live storytelling events where members of the audience get a few minutes to tell a story, live…

  • The weekend ahead

    I’m looking forward to a fun and crazy next 5 days. We’re going to Disneyland! We might be the only family in Southern California who has never been to Disneyland. And that’s all Megan wanted for her 10th birthday. So today, after school, we are going up to do just that. We’ll be in Anaheim…

  • Vanity in Ministry Life

    When I was new in ministry I struggled with the idea that people were paying me to tell them what I thought. (About God, about how to live as a believer, and about a lot of other things.) It took me a while to realize this simple fact: They don’t really care what I think.…

  • Megan and I at the wedding

    Megan and I at the wedding, originally uploaded by mclanea. Proof. I do own a tie.

  • Shut up and drive

    People are showing up and I have a million things running through my mind. Do I have all of my personal stuff? Do I have all of the stuff we need that the church needs to bring? Are all of my leaders here? Did I double check fuel levels? What about oil changes, we good…

  • Dealing with discouragement

    Last Sunday, I wrote about some of the discouragement I was feeling. Anxiety. Self-doubt. Questioning my abilities. Questioning decisions I’ve made. Paths I’ve chosen. I wish I could say that was just a moment of self-doubt and second-guessing. And I wish I could look back on that 7 days later and laugh. But I can’t.…

  • The Joy Machine

    It’s been five weeks since Jackson was born. It’s hard to remember what our family was like without him. The fun part about Jackson, to us, is how much of an unexpected miracle he is to our family. With both Megan and Paul we carefully planned their arrival. I remember sitting down with Kristen and…