There’s a particular sickness you might have if you grew up in Church World (Andy Stanley’s name for the deep sub-culture of evangelical Christianity) The sickness? Spiritual Accomplishment Urgency Syndrome. The symptoms often include: Do you notice a theme? Are you feeling a little guilty about it? There’s another way this illness manifests itself. For […]
Are you afraid of growing?
I was sitting in a booth at Panera with a friend, talking through the branding for an online course I’m developing. In fact, it was the same booth I’m sitting in now as I write this, months later. We were discussing the tag line of the course. He was hung up on one of the […]
Is your religion feeding you or is it just knife skills?
I was juggling the preparations for a Bar-B-Que. Onions and mushrooms were caramelizing on the stove top. On the grill, Burgers were starting to cook. I was bouncing between setting out the sides, rooting out long forgotten condiments from the back corners of the fridge, and cutting tomatoes. Just then, my ever-hungry 6 year-old walked […]
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, […]
Time to stop trying too hard.
I’m A Tryer. Trying too hard. You could use that phrase as a banner for much of my life. Trying hard to do well. Trying hard to be accepted. Trying hard to be strong, to be a good husband, to be a good pastor, to be a good dad, to be more emotional and relational. […]