what do i know?

I think it's a great thing to take time and recognize special people in our lives. That person today is my wife, Emilee. This recognition is long over due. We dated for about three years (nearly all in college), were engaged for nearly a year, and have been married going on six years. Simply being with me for this long is a feat that merits recognition! Like everyone else, she is not perfect. She has flaws, but they pale in comparison to her positive attributes. Here are a few reasons why my wife is so amazing. She is beautiful. I mean this in no cliché way: she looked like a Greek goddess at her sister's wedding last weekend in her one-shoulder dress with her hair pulled back just right. She has beauty that doesn't need to be accentuated by makeup. She is so elegant. I should not need moments like that to remind me of this reality. I get to spend every day with her and see her beauty all the time. Lucky me. She is confident. Very much unlike myself, she is not driv...

We can all think of words or expressions that are said incorrectly on a regular basis, and most of us will have to admit that we are often guilty ourselves. It's a little more OK to me when these things are said out loud, but it drives me crazy when I see them in writing. With the growing ubiquity of social media over the last decade or so everyone now has a voice on some level. This is largely a good thing, but I think that most of us would agree that it is often not. What I thought I'd do is put together a list of many of the things I hear and see spoken or written incorrectly on a regular basis. I am no grammar Nazi, so this is all in good fun. These list will not be very original, but it's my version. So, here we go with a quick top ten (I'm sure I'd modify this list if I gave myself more time): They're , there , their .  These words have distinct sets of definitions , which I have no intention of defining for you. But I will tell you that this is alwa...

How often is it that we are forced to suffer through reading and analyzing a book in high school only to thoroughly enjoy rereading it years later as an adult? I feel that I can say this about  nearly  every classic literature book or novel I read in high school. Teenagers don't like to be forced to do anything and any type of assigned scrutiny is nothing short of punishment. I really feel for our high school English teachers because these books have  so much  to offer in terms of enjoyment and analysis. Teenagers are just stubborn little turds. I just spend a few days reading the novella,  Heart of Darkness  by Joseph Conrad, and I have to say that I appreciated so much about the book. I generally prefer books that offer value in four categories: history, theology, exploring the depravity of man, and redemption/overcoming obstacles. With the exception of the last category, this book offers dialogue in all of the categories, particularly th...

IT'S A BOY! COMING OCTOBER 2017   Quite the flattering view!

My son just turned two years old, and I have loved being a dad. I can already see his personality, habits, opinions, and idiosyncrasies forming. I can see ways that his mind is learning to work. I love when he asks questions. I love to wrestle with him. I love to take him outside. I love reading and praying with him. It is truly a fun ride. I am also well aware of the ways in which I've already had moments of failure. I've been way too harsh and/or yelled at him in unwarranted times. I've disrespected my wife (and his mother) in front of him. I've tuned out when I should be paying attention to them. I have failed to let him see me participating in spiritual disciplines consistently. I know what it is like having a dad around, and I know what it is like not having a dad around. Fatherhood is one of the most neglected commitments in our culture, and I think there is an argument that this reality is one of the biggest causes of familial issues and a growing lack of soc...

There are lots of things in life that we all take for granted on a daily basis. We never even stop to realize just how profoundly different our lives would be if not for these things. What I am thinking about doing every few blog posts is to take a few minutes to briefly look at some things in life that we easily forget the value of simply because we use them so frequently or because their use is so commonplace in our lives that we've come to think of them as natural. For example: Literacy . Most of us learned to read and write at such an early age that we have little to no memories of not being able to do so. We need to be grateful that we live in a society in which reading and writing are taught for free to everyone very early on . Many people in the world don't have this luxury , and I don't think the use of that word is an overstatement. Widespread literacy is a very recent development for human civilization. For most of our history, all or nearly all of humanity h...