Lent Reflection – Am I torn between choosing comfort or choosing love?

Today we turn a corner. This is the 24th day of Lent. Starting today, the Lent reflections and scriptures begin to follow the events in Jesus’ last eighteen hours of life. If you haven’t been following along so far, now is an excellent time to start. Reflecting on these events will prepare your heart for […]

The Freedom To Not Get Your Way (TAW004)

Episode 004 – The Freedom To Not Get Your Way In our culture we bear an awful burden: The profound need to get our own way. This burden gets in the way of our relationships undermines our spiritual growth. It can even impede our sense of connection to God. Not getting our way is often […]

The Limits You Hate May Be Good For You

I love this season of the year here in Portland. Blue sky sunshine days begin to break through the winter veil of wet greyness we’ve lived beneath for months on end. When those days happen… man, they are glorious! With those days of sun and the change in temperature, all the living things in our […]

The promise religion can’t keep, that Christmas does.

This week around tables and living rooms across the world, families gather. Christmas eve. Christmas morning. Christmas dinner. The long, lazy days after Christmas. Sitting together sharing stories, gifts, and great food. At least this is what we want, right? Some families have this experience. Some don’t. Some of us wish we had people to […]

In which a perfectionist admits that perfectionism is his problem.

That particular Sunday was terrible, but it was also wonderful. When a nice motorcycle instructor named Kandice asked me, “Do you have test anxiety?” she had no idea that she was touching on a central spiritual issue for me. For more than a year I had been slowly working on getting my motorcycle endorsement. So, […]