This morning I watched as the pundits debated who McCain would choose. The reporters were looking for an angle so they could break the story. As the morning progressed, potential running mates dropped off the radar. Tim Pawlenty. Mitt Romney. Both were gone. Then the rumors. A plane from Alaska had come in late Thursday [...]

Love is so crucial to our Christian walk. I am not talking about the purely emotion-driven love that our culture seems to thrive on. This is not the love that says, "If you love me, you’ll…" It’s not the love that demands or is self-centered. That is the love that you and I are surrounded [...]

Last night, the Olympics came to a conclusion. Phelps, Bolt, questionable documentation, censorship, and a variety of other events that provided great theater, the Games of the 29th Olympiad are over. Beijing can go back to normal, whatever that is.
Tonight the circus arrives in town (via TV). The Democratic National Convention kicks off tonight. I [...]

Today we took Matthew to see Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It was pretty fun to surprise him.   Here is how it went down…
We told Matthew to get in the car because we had a surprise for him. He started guessing immediately. His first guess was Great Lakes Crossing. I said, "Maybe, [...]

Last night we were in a boat on Atwood Lake in eastern Ohio, headed out to enjoy a quiet dusk evening. We had stopped in the middle of the lake and I shut the engine off.
After about 10 minutes, I needed to turn the engine on and move the boat a bit since we were [...]

I really wrestle when it comes to dealing with entertainment, especially music. There seem to be two schools of thought around music’s role in someone’s life.
Expression. One side of the argument would say that music is an expression of one’s emotions and thoughts. (I am referring to the listener, not the author of the song.) [...]

This has taken me a few days to sit down and write because I have been recovering. My body was reminding me that I am 38 now.
Anyway… I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect back on M:C2008.
Last week was a great week. I have already talked about some of our adventures in my [...]

I have a few minutes here in the middle of the day to send out another update. First of all, I realize that some readers may not know the details about our trip. Here is the short version:
Several years ago I met Pat Pugh. Pat serves in a full-time inner-city ministry called Cincinnati Urban Ministry [...]

I am taking a break from the craziness and sitting in the computer lab at the Millvale Community Center. This is only our second day here at the Center and so much has happened already.
Monday was mostly a travel day. We pulled out of the RCC parking lot shortly after 9:00am and started [...]

On Thursday, our family observed a day of Sabbath. This wasn’t anything special, per se. Basically, I didn’t do anything for ministry. (Confession time. I am a work-a-holic. This is a trait I inherited from my mom.) Taking an entire day without any ministry happens far too little in my life. I need to be [...]