The hills in southern California have sprung up in vibrant greens recently – wildflowers of orange, yellow, and purple carpet the green hills, making a tapestry of color and life that I haven’t seen around here in many years.
These colors were highlighted recently on a bike ride I took at sunrise, where the sun’s long shadows cast a contrast on the hills, making them stand out all the more glorious, all the more beautiful than they already were.
Read MoreWe recently had the opportunity to join some beloved family members at Six Flags for the day. Given that we have three boys who jump at any whiff of adventure, we trekked over to what used to be called Magic Mountain (now Six Flags California) for a day of fun.
One ride, in particular, caught my attention:
It’s the new version of Freefall – redone from the days of my youth to be four times taller, and a million times more thrilling.
Read MoreI came across an interesting quote about Mother Teresa and her observation that loneliness is the leprosy of the Western world.
Wow.
As devastating and alienating as leprosy was in the ancient world, apparently loneliness is what we get to deal with in our culture instead.
Loneliness is an interesting phenomenon. In my experience, I’ve felt lonely when there’s no one in the room, but often times even lonelier when in a room crowded full of people.
Why is that?
How on earth could it be that we can find ourselves lonely in the midst of the company of others?
Because I’m guessing I’m not the only one who has ever felt this way.
My guess is, you can relate.
Read MoreIf you’re anything like me, you have your good days and your bad days. Days when you feel like things are going well, and others when no matter what you do, nothing seems to quite work out.
And if you’re like me, when all you’ve been doing is GO, GO, GO, emotions can run a bit fragile.
Read MoreRather than try to craft a brilliant essay, one that moves mountains, I decided to embrace my limitations (possibly a first) and figured I’d simply share some of the lessons I’ve learned, as well as some observations and reflections from this past year. I hope they bless, encourage and inspire…
Read MoreMy oldest is in 8th grade, stuck right in the midst of the awkward middle school years. We all remember those times when we were convinced every single eye was on us every time we walked across a room, scrutinizing our gait, our hair, our clothes? (The irony here, of course, is that in actuality all attention is much more focused on themselves than on anyone else.)
But a core truth is still exposed in middle school; that the heart’s desire of every person is to find community, to fit in, and this is none more apparent than in those teenage years.
Read MoreTake a brief moment out of your day today and look around at the people in your midst, particularly if you’re in a public place.
As you glance around, make an effort to look into each person’s inner being – in a non-creepy way, of course, because people get arrested for being creepy, and we certainly don’t want that.
But take a look. What do you observe?
What I see is complex and conflicted human beings.
Read MoreWith today marking not only Valentine’s Day, but also the start of Lent, it seemed like a good time to talk all things chocolate, love, and surrender. (OK, maybe not the cleanest of introductory sentences, but every blog must start somewhere, right?)
Now that the awkward intro is out of the way, let’s talk about Lent for a moment.
It’s a relatively new thing for me, as most evangelical churches don’t do a whole lot about the 40 days prior to Easter, so here’s a quick crash course in case your early experience with people practicing Lent was a bit like mine: Looking with strange glances at the girls in my class who were giving up sweets, like chocolate, carbs or some other silly thing, quite likely for weight loss, all under the guise of piety, or as we call it, Lent.
Read MoreThis Christmas season has completely snuck up on me. Maybe it’s the spring-like weather we have here in SoCal, maybe it’s something else, but I’ve been having a “holy crap” moment right about now—hoping, pleading, and praying that Amazon can deliver on their promise to have gifts in hand before Christmas Day.
But this panic I’m feeling is more than just meeting deadlines and having gifts to offer my loved ones in a few days.
The panic I’m feeling runs deeper. At its core is the desire not just to give gifts, but to give good gifts.
You know, those ones that strike a chord in peoples’ hearts, the ones that say I see you; the ones my family will cherish, and remember.
Maybe that’s too much pressure, but the truth is we all want to give good gifts. But I’ve noticed a deeper question surfacing inside of me these past few months...
Read MoreWe had no idea Las Vegas was about to happen.
We recently released our latest coffee t-shirt, and as you can see from the picture, it has nothing to do with coffee.
We wanted to go with something simple; a message we could all rally behind, and so we went with “Love People”.
We figured it was time to get back to the basics—that we all can lean in directions opposite of loving people from time to time, and so we thought a tangible reminder wouldn’t be so bad.
Because loving people is one of the more difficult tasks we have.
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