A Good Way to be a Parent

There are a lot of different ways to be a parent.  Some people parent "from the hip" without reflecting on why they do what they do. Now, all people make assumptions about the proper way to act, but parents who approach raising children as a casual affair are going to pass along whatever baggage they received from their parents. This can include the stifling of emotions though repeatedly telling a child, "Don't cry. You're all right." It could be creating an unhealthy relationship with food though battles at the dinner table. Or it could be fostering jealousy between siblings by unconsciously treating a low-maintenance child differently than a child that requires more attention.

My wife and I agree that this is not the way we want to be parents to our children. We know that we will undoubtedly mess them up in our own special way, but we want to minimize the effect as much as possible. So we approach parenting the same way we approach learning (and mastering, which requires constant learning) any skill. We read, talk, try, reflect, adjust and then hold each other accountable when we loose our cool and let our emotions drive how we act and talk.

One of the blogs both my wife and I read had a good article that summarized how we try to equip our children to deal with their emotions. We don't always do everything perfectly, but that's not the point, the point is that kids have needs that sometimes get mis-interpreted by adults who have not thought through how they are going to respond when kids do typical kid things: push limits, yell, fight, cry, destroy your house, refuse to eat, spill, are melt down with emotion.

You Can't Make Me Care

[This post is kind of the anti-thesis of the previous one.]

The world wants to tell you what to care about. On the societal level, this is called advertising. Care about your skin, your car, or the sheen of your shampoo. Care about (what people think about) the cleanliness of your house, the name on your jeans, the reading on your bathroom scale. Care about this so you will buy that.

On a personal level, people also want you to care about the same things they care about. Preachers, teachers, parents, friends, writers, politicians, cousins, neighbors - everyone has their own agenda. It may not be malevolent, quite the opposite. Some people believe dearly that the issues that move them most deeply should move everyone as deeply. They cannot understand why your priorities or your emotional reactions, are any different.

I think everyone has had at least one conversation where the person you are talking to is getting riled up and you think, "I simply don't care about this." I feel that way about many, many things. A fine example of this is homosexuality. I just don't care enough to develop an informed opinion about this issue. I don't feel like wading through the social, biblical, psychology, anecdotal and personal evidence on this matter. So if you ask me what I think I'll just shrug my shoulders and say, "Meh." It isn't that I think this issue and its implications are unimportant. It's just that it is unimportant to me.

Just as there are too many choices of peanut butter, there are too many things to care about, too many worthy causes to give to, too many honorable movements to "like" on facebook. And there isn't enough time to care about them all. There isn't enough energy in my body to make me care about everything I, as a good, thoughtful, Christian, am supposed to care about.

So I make choices, and I'm sorry, but while you may think that society is on a moral decline because of X (and who knows, you may actually be right!) I am happy to let you solve that problem, but don't tell me about it, because I don't care.

Some examples...

I don't care about taxes. I don't care if they are raised or if they are lowered. I don't care about the super-rich who control everything. I don't care about the fact that Social Security won't exist when I'm 65 years old.

I care about children. Not just my own, but all children. It breaks my heart that there are children in this world that are abused, neglected, or that go to bed hungry, cold, and alone. I care that there are children in Foster Care because this means that Christians have failed to love and provide for those who need it the most. Until Christians do a better job caring for children, we should stop calling ourselves Christians, perhaps only saying that, "One day we aspire to be Christians, but for now we are just play-acting."

I don't care about labels. Republican or Democrat. Conservative or Liberal. Rich or Poor. Evangelical or Reformed or Christian Reformed or Emergent. Modern or post-modern or post-post-modern. They are useful only to dismiss another person or their ideas.

I care that the majority of Christian are daily abusing their bodies by eating things barely classifiable as food and drinking things that should be categorized as drugs. I care that most pastors are over weight. I care because I don't think you can be spiritually healthy without being physically healthy. I care about making my own bread and eating more vegetables. 

I don't care about what you think.

I care about what you do.

I don't care about what famous people think or do.

I don't care what you think of me.

I care how you treat me.

I don't want to hear about how much you care about something. Unless you show me passion. If you show me why I should care, then I might. But I'm not making any promises.

No One Cares as Much as You

I have written three books. Their working titles are Caissa's Pawn, James Hawthorne is Missing, and The Courage of Quiet.  None of them have been published, but the first two are complete and Caissa's Pawn has even been submitted to various agents. I spent a lot of time and energy writing each one. I am proud of these even if they never leave manuscript form. They represent my ambition, love, hope, and longing. I hope they also represent good writing.

At various times I have asked people for feedback on my writing. I chose people who were both kind and critical. I sent them my scripts attached to emails where I said things like, "This is important to me and I value your feedback." Then I waited.

The next time I saw them I heard, "I've been meaning to get to that, but I've been so busy." Next there would be an apology and a promise, "I'm sorry. I'll get to it in a couple of weeks when things are a little more calm." Eventually I was afraid to ask if they even remembered agreeing to read my book because I was afraid that they had read it but could not come up with anything positive to say about it and were hoping that I would simply forget the matter.

While these experiences are hurtful, I don't fault those people who are still sitting on manuscripts that long-ago became outdated by more recent drafts, because I'm sure I have done the same thing to other people. I have friends and family who are involved in plays and musicals, who dance, tell stories, sing, play instruments, make videos, cook, have children, need help moving, paint, build, or like myself, write. They have poured themselves into these things. At times the activity even became fused with their very identity, that if I were to ignore this aspect of their lives I might as well be ignoring the entire person. And that is exactly what I have done, telling myself, "Life is so busy right now. I'll go to the next performance/concert/time they need my help."

The fact is, what is important to you is almost never as important to other people. We want it to be. We struggle to understand how it could not be. We are baffled when they return our enthusiasm with a polite nod. At the same time they have things they care about with the same level of zealotry and they don't understand how we can live a life so calloused to this thing that is so important to making life worthwhile.

The question is (if we want to be a good friend), "How can we learn to care about things that we don't care about?" The answer is that we don't need to. We don't need to become experts in subjects that are inherently uninteresting to us. We only need to be mildly curious. All we have to do is ask a few questions. People love to talk about their passions and when we let them we may learn something. If nothing else, it is always inspiring to listen to someone who genuinely cares about what they're talking about. However, we do need to show up and support those people we care about. Not every time, but every time we can. This will mean sacrificing time and energy. But doing things for other people is what really makes life worth living.

Less Good, More Great

There is another thing I have added to the de-clutter pile: my Playstation 2 (with games).

This little machine has offered me hundreds of hours of engaging entertainment over the years, and I am grieved to see it go. Since I have a Wii and three kids, when it comes to having fun I turn to other things. I am getting rid of this not because I don't like it, if I had more hours in the day I would happily continue to play one of the four Ratchet and Clank games I have, but right now it only gathers dust and takes up space. I'm getting rid of it because it is only good and I want to fill my life with great. I'm happy to give it away or trade it for a good book or a good Wii game. Let me know if you're interested.

Writer to Know: Paulo Coelho

I don't know why I hadn't heard of Paulo Coelho before I did.

He has sold millions of book around the world and is a celebrated international speaker. Yet it was only last summer while looking for an audio book that I came across The Alchemist at my local library. I checked it out right away for two reasons. First, because it triggered some memory in me. Had I heard in mentioned in a podcast recently? Had someone recommended it to me? Second, because the book was read by Jeremy Irons.

The book drew me in with its simply story about a boy in search of his treasure. It made me think with its sections on meaning, choice, and purpose.

I then devoured most of the rest of Coelho's writings (luckily most of which were available from my library) including:

He has written several other books which have been translated into English (Coelho is Brazilian) and several that have not. He is also extremely active in social media, has fully embraced it as part of how he communicates with his fans. He has almost 5 millions facebook "fans" and his blog entries often have thousands of comments.

He is a Christian, but not of the orthodox kind. He is not like any Christian I ever grew up knowing: liberal, mystic, narrative rather than linear, Catholic, participatory, dark, light, embracing tension and mystery. You could read his books and believe he is "new age" or generally but vaguely spiritual. I love his books and recommend them, especially The Alchemist and The Fifth Mountain.

Less Books for More

In my ongoing attempt to simplify my life, yesterday I did round two of clearing off my bookshelves. Round one was easy because it was those books I couldn't even convince myself I would ever read again (or ashamedly, ever had). Round two was different, it was filled with many books I very much enjoyed reading many years ago and which I had the intention of reading again, but I had carried that intention for many years, but never took it out and did anything with it. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions and I don't know about that, but I know it it will bow your bookshelves.

These books were too good for Goodwill. These were some of my beloved tomes. I could give them away, but I really know very few people who read. I had heard about paperbackswap.com through a minimalist blog that I enjoy so I decided to give it a try.

The concept is that you post books that you are willing to give away. Other people request these books. You send them the books and your account receives 1 credit. With 1 credit you can then request a book be sent to you. You're responsible for postage when you send a book out, but not when you request one. So for $2-$5 each you can swap out those books that you never read for ones you might.

I know that there are two objections to this. First, it does nothing to simplify my life. At a one-to-one exchange I'm not getting rid of any of my stuff. But I am exchanging stuff that is dull and lifeless to me for things that may be interesting and engaging.  Second, what about public libraries? You don't have to pay postage to check out a book from a library. I will still use public libraries (love them in fact) but this seemed like an interesting idea and I thought I would give it a test run and let people know how it went. Plus, just for posting 10 books, you automatically recieve 2 free credits, which is the equivelent of two free books!  Score!

Last night I posted 12 books and received my two free credits. Almost right away 9 of my books were matched with other members "wish lists" and I received confirmation emails telling me to send them out. So tonight I sent out the six that were confirmed at a cost of around $22. Now I'll have to trust that the other members mark their accounts when the books are delivered. Then I'll have the big problem of what books to request (suggestions welcome). 

I came home and used my two free credits.  We'll see how long it takes for them to arrive.

Thoughts on The Incarnation

With Easter approaching I have been thinking a lot about the Incarnation.  Mostly, my thoughts have revolved around the unfathomable, almost comical nature of the incarnation.  I have always been able to understand Jesus as the man who walked around healing, teaching, preaching, dieing and rising. But over the last several weeks I have been meditating on the un-incarnatiablity of God, a fact that makes the Incarnation so scandalous.

I guess always imagined God-the-Father as just an older version of Jesus, the previous generation of divinity.  But this season I'm finding this view embarrassingly inadequate. We are speaking of the force that spoke the cosmos into being, who guides the moon and stars, not only around this planet, but around all the planets. This is the other who is so far beyond our understanding that words fall off the page they are so heavily inadequate to describe. This is the fire that is its own fuel. This is the water that is its own bowl. This is the love that blasts apart pleasure and leaves behind transformational joy.  This is the thread that holds all things together. This is the feeling of fear in the darkest part of the night. This is irreducible, the unknowable, present everywhere, yet untouchable anywhere.

This is what is poured into human form. 

I think I was mentally reverse-engineering the Incarnation back onto God-the-Father, creating what I think I may aptly call "Grandpa Jesus."  This was minimizing the mystery and beauty of the Incarnation.  How could something so not-created enter into the created world?  I don't know.  But it really doesn't matter how.  It matters that it somehow did. 

As I like to say, "Everything is possible, not everything is explainable."

I like Art

At least, I want to be the kind of person who is into art.  I actually don't know that much about painting or sculpture except that I think it is interesting. I recognize it is a world beyond my understanding; that it is a culture all it's own; it has a lexicon, history, and tradition observable but not participatory, at least to me.  Though perhaps when it comes to art, observation is participation. 

Anyway, everyone has heard of the Sistine Chapel.  Now you can see it for yourself without leaving your computer.

http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html

(p.s. there is a musical track, so turn your volume down first.)

Writer to Know: Charles Schultz

Not many people think of Charles Schultz as a writer, be cause they see him primarily as a cartoonist.  Which isn't wrong just a bit short-sighted. I would argue that the dichotomy is unnecessary. Charles Schultz is an artist, philosopher, theologian, humorist, writer, and yes, cartoonist. His characters are iconic and emblematic.

I don't do a lot of collecting, but over the last few years Fantagraphics Books has been publishing a definitive collection of all the Peanuts strips.  Each book covers two years work and are beautifully designed and have excellent cover art.  So far I have from 1961 through 1978.  (1979-1980 is issued but I figured that this will be the last one I buy because I was alive for everything after 1979 and will probably remember it.)  Aren't these covers reason enough to buy the books?

Ok, so if the covers aren't enough, when you read Peanuts in large, single-sitting doses, you realize how subversive, challenging, and plain funny the strip is.  Schultz is also a master of what I call the "third panel pause."  This is when the third panel consists of a character only thinking.  The first two panels have set up the situation, but the third panel gives the reader chance to really join in before the fourth panel pay-off. Here are a couple examples of what I mean. (Sorry for the size)

Whenever I'm feeling down about the world, three things always cheer me up.  Reading Anne Lamott.  Being reminded I'm good enough by Mr. Rogers.  And spending an hour commiserating with Charlie Brown. Maybe you always have self-confidence, are ever-optimistic, and feel ready to take on the world, but for the everyone else, you probably should self-medicate with some Peanuts.

Adele

Entertainment Weekly is my regular bathroom reading.  It's articles are short and often snarky. And while they are obsessed with LOST (get over it people, the show's done so you can stop covering it) they wildly recommended singer Adele, an effort that was re-doubled with the recent release of her second album.

So earlier this week I turned into several Youtube clips of Adele and was blown away.  At 21 years old (also the name of her current album) she makes any American Idol contestant seem like a karaoke-bar reject.  But, as Levar would always say, you don't have to take my word for it.

Writer to Know: Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor's fiction are not books you understand, they are books you experience. The writing is deep and rich and could never be duplicated.  She wrote only two novels, several books of short stories, and a couple works of non-fiction, but you could put her head to head against any writer in the English language and she would dominate. 

Her books are dark, violent, troubling, confusing, unresolved, and of course, deeply Christian.  Traditionally she is labeled as Gothic, Southern, or Catholic, all of which are applicable, but helpful only to those people who would rather dismiss her writing than sit down and read it. If you do not hold to strict literary categories and are able to loose yourself from the desire to understand and open yourself to the desire to experience you may scare yourself when you empathize with some of the more disturbing characters in her works.

Many books that I've bought, read, and shelved I have (or would be willing to) given away. This includes some books that I have enjoyed very much.  But I will hold onto O'Connor's books, especially Mystery and Manners, which should be read by every aspiring writer and every aspiring Christian.

The Fifth/Third River Bank Run

Every year I look forward to running the Fifth/Third Riverbank Run. When the new year rolls around and I'm in making my resolutions, I always include a finishing-time goal in the list. Training for the race is one thing that keeps me mentally and physically healthy in the dark winter months. I love to constantly tweak my training plan and track my miles (something that is easy with my Nike+).

I had a great race last year, setting a personal best and breaking 2:00:00 by 5:00 minutes, so I'm hoping to build on that this year and there are two reasons I've got a chance of doing this. The first is that all winter I've had a membership to a gym close to work. This has let me log more miles regardless of the weather conditions. I have also been able to include strength training into my workouts more easily.

The second reason is because I went to the doctor.  Now, I had not been to the doctor since I was required to get a physical before going to college...14 years ago. So you could say that I was due for a check-up. Everything went fine and I continue to be mostly healthy. My LDL cholesterol was at 144 and he wanted it to be under 130. I also asked him what a healthy weight would be. He said, "What weight were you when you graduated college?"  I thought, "Not the 194 lbs that the nurse wrote down a few minutes ago." He told me that if I lost a few pounds my cholesterol would probably drop 20 points. I figured my athletic build justified anything under 200 lbs. but here was a trained medical professional telling I may want to drop some weight. Plus I knew that common knowledge is that for every lbs lost my minute/mile time would drop by :04.  That meant losing 10 lbs could reduce my 25K time by about 10 minutes. So I resolved to weigh 175 lbs. by race day (I currently am at 187 lbs.).

What does it mean for me to have a good race on May 14th, 2011?  Well here are a list of my previous races.


2010, 1:55:04
2009, 2:10:06
2008, 2:20:46
2007  X
2006  X
2005, 2:00:56
2004  X
2003, 2:18:44
2002, 2:11:51

What I'm aiming for is to knock off another 5:00 minutes from last years time and run a sub-1:50:00.  This is ambitious, but I believe that if I train hard, avoid injury, and weigh under 175 lbs. it will be attainable.

One last thing that I look forward to about the Riverbank Run is that I get to run it with/near my Dad.  Last year was the first and only time I beat him in this or any race, but he beat me in the two trail races we did later in 2010, so I think it's going to be an interesting race this year. I usually spend the night before at my parents house so I don't have to drive in from Grand Haven in the morning and so we can talk strategy the night before. It's a lot of fun.

Let me know if you're going to run the race and we can try to meet before the race and high-five and get pumped up together! 

Seeking God

Marketing maven Seth Godin wrote an interesting post entitled Bring Me Stuff That's Dead, Please.  It's short enough that I'm going to copy it here.

Bring me stuff that's dead, please

RSS is dead. Blogs are dead. The web is dead.

Good.

Dead means that they are no longer interesting to the drive-by technorati. Dead means that the curiosity factor has been satisfied, that people have gotten the joke. These people rarely do anything of much value, though. Great music wasn't created by the first people to grab an electric guitar or a synthesizer. Great snowboarding moves didn't come from the guy who invented the snowboard... No one thinks Gutenberg was a great author, and some of the best books will be written long after books are truly dead.

Only when an innovation is dead can the real work begin. That's when people who are seeking leverage get to work, when we can focus on what we're saying, not how (or where) we're saying it.

The drive-by technorati are well-informed, curious and always probing. They're also hiding... hiding from the real work of creating work that matters, connections with impact and art that lasts. I love to hear about the next big thing, but I'm far more interested in what you're doing with the old big thing.

While Godin is talking about business and marketing, what I find interesting is the parallels to other parts of life, especially church life. So much of the Christian life is not about the latest and greatest, the newest or the best, but instead about the daily commitment and the hard work of being passionate and committed.  Peter Rollins (see earlier post) has written about how we have to let go of God in order to hold onto God.  Meaning (crudely summarized) that we have to kill our idea of God in order to accept a bigger, more glorious, yet more mysterious God.  And this is a continual life-long process because God is always bigger and more mysterious and more glorious.  To restate Godin, one could say,

"It is only when an God is dead can the real work begin. That's when people who are seeking God get to work, when we can focus on what we're saying, not how (or where) we're saying it."

Making Bread isn't that Hard to Do

Before I made my first loaf of bread, I was intimidated by the idea of baking my own loaves.  This was because I was ignorant; I didn't know how to do it, so I assumed it was a long a complicated process.  And in defense of all the bakers who spend their lives trying to perfect their loaves, bread making can be complicated, nuanced, and subtle.  It can be time consuming, thought consuming, money consuming, and add to your waist-line.

At the same time, it can be simple, pleasurable, fulfilling, money-saving, and even therapeutic.  You don't even need to know that much about what it happening to your dough to enjoy making a really good bread.  There are four basic ingredients to bread: flour, water, yeast, and salt.  Sure, there are techniques to kneading the dough, but these can be learned by a child.  I believe that everyone should be able to make a simple loaf of bread, if only for realizing that loaves of bread that you buy in the store have far too many ingredients. 

Bread making, or running a marathon, or parenting, or writing a book, or any great feat we want to do: they are all just magic tricks; mind-blowing when we first encounter them, but which seem obvious when we understand what it going on.  When the curtain of ignorance is lifted and we can see all the mechanics behind the magic, it stops being a magic, at least a magic that is outside our control.  When you bake your first loaf of bread, or run your first 5-K, or do anything else that you once thought impossible, the "magic of the trick" will be replaced by the "magic of life."  You will see how there are no secrets, only things you haven't learned yet.  That there may be no instruction manual to life, but a little curiosity goes a long way. As you bite into a warm baguette that you made yourself, you will realize that you have had the magic in our own hands all along.

Writer to Know: Peter Rollins

A couple of weeks ago, Peter Rollins was going to be in Grand Rapids speaking at several events and when I got an email from a fellow pastor inviting me to a brunch with him, I jumped at the chance.  I had just finished reading How (Not) to Speak of God, which I had gotten for Christmas.

This is book articulated some things I have been feeling for a long time: the limits of knowledge, the blinding glory of God, the need for a new vocabulary of faith, and much more.  The brunch was held at The Community with probably around sixty people. It was great to have a smaller group of people because he was able to both talk and answer questions.

Rollins is identified with the "emergent church" movement, a term I had heard, but only had the vaguest notions about, mostly from church people who were dismissive of it.  But this book has made me want to learn more, at least to re-read it and discuss it with other people who have read it.  I have also purchased two other of his books that I am going to read over the next month.

The Fidelity of Betrayal

and The Orthodox Heretic and other Impossible Tales

I expect to be challenged by both books.  I can unequivically recommend that you should read his books, not because you'll enjoy them, but because they will make you think. Here's a video that will give you a good sense Rollins- if nothing else you'll love his accent.



Peter Rollins at Baylor University from Peter Rollins on Vimeo.

Pizza Quest

One the best new blogs out there is Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart.  Peter is the author of The Bread Baker's Apprentice, which is the book to begin with if you're interested in learning how to bake your own bread.  And if you watch a couple of the video's on the site, you'll realize that Peter loves pizza.  It's both an intellectual passion and a passion of the heart.  He talks about proper temperature, -00- flours, ingredients, innovations, and experimentation, but his eyes also light up when he watches a well-made pizza pulled from a wood-fired oven.

If you read this blog regularly who may never order another Domino's/Papa Johns/Pizza Hut/etc. ever again.  However, you may begin to feel the desire to try your hand at making your own pizza.  I have been wanting to try the S'more dessert pizza since I watched it made on the site.

I'll Do You One Better

I took the twins to the library this weekend to pick up a couple books.  They love these trips and I use it as a time to update my current audio book.  Since I have a 45 minute commute I use the time to listen to books.  It usually takes me awhile to find a book that I will want to listen to, but this time was different.  On the "New Audio Books" shelf there was Autobiography of Mark Twain.

This was a book I had given as a Christmas present and had every intention of borrowing back once it was read.  However, it is quite massive and I was still wrestling with Anna Karenina (see previous post), but I thought that I could attack it in audio.


Except for a 2-disc introduction, the book has not disappointed as far as I have gotten.  There is a significant section where Twain talks about his relationship with General/President Grant.  His description of Grant's character is what caught my attention.  He was a man who would go beyond the call of duty, inconveniencing himself to the point of abject poverty.  When asked to write a letter, he would make a personal visit.  When publishing him memoirs, he accepted a lower payment because he wanted to make sure the publishing house was going to make money from the financial arrangement.  He was an embodiment of Jesus' command, "If someone forces you to go one mile with him, go with him two."

This made me think about my attitude toward things that I need to do.  It only took me a moment's introspection to know that I often see requests for help as a burden.  In response to this realization I am going to try and use the phrase "I'll do you one better" more often.  This will work for big and small things.  If someone asks me to pass the salt, they'll get the pepper as well.  If someone asks for a pencil, they're getting a pen.  Want to borrow a book?  I'll do you one better - I'll write up your life story!  Nice to meet you, need a handshake?  I'll do you one better - open mouth kiss!  Need a kidney?  I'll do you one better - you're getting a lung!

Whoa.  I'm realizing that "I'll do you one better" is a dangerous phrase.  I suppose there is this warning - be careful what you ask me to do for you. I may end up looking a bit too much like Jesus.

Will I Ever Finish Anna Karenina? Should I Even Try?

Every three years I give myself the challenge of reading a really big book.  The first of these was Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.

Then there were the four Rabbit novels by John Updike.

A couple of years later I came back to Dostoyevsky with Demons (alternatively titled: The Possessed)

Then there was Steinbeck's East of Eden.

All amazing books, all epic in scope.  All successfully finished.  Enter Anna Karenina.

I am about half-way through this 800+ page monster masquerading as a book, which would be great if I had started it in 2011.  I began it back in October or November of last year and it might have even been as early as August now that I am applying my mind to nailing down a date.  I have taken two significant breaks in reading it, even completing several other books during the hiatus.  But I hate to leave a book half read, especially because I feel like I should get some kind of credit for reading over 400 pages of a book.  That is not how reading works, at least in my brain.  For me to say that I've read something, it is permissible to skim, but not to skip.  So I journey forward into Anna Karenina even though I know that it will be more work than pleasure at times.  I must remember that this is why I wait several years between these epics-because I have to forget the work that it take to complete them.

The way I see it there are two things I could possibly gain from completing this book.  First, a sense of (false) superiority because I have read a great book that many other people have not, or second, I could actually enjoy reading the book.  Because the book is a "great book" it often over looks the small details like plot, so I'm planning on fully embracing my pretentious pride once I finish the book.  Watch out for my upturned nose around June of 2013.


P.S. Tolstoy is much easier to read that Dostoyevsky.


Tomorrow: I'll Do You One Better

A Modest Proposal

When I was doing youth ministry, a phrase that I came up with during one mission trip was, "Are you willing to try?" This was my verbal pry-bar which I used on students when they were reluctant to do the high-ropes course or try whitewater rafting. The power of this question is that it re-frames a situation, it takes the focus off the results of what we do, whether we succeed or fail, and instead focuses on our willingness to take a step forward.

There are several reasons that I have begun this blog and one reason I was hesitant to. First, I am suspending my activity on Facebook for Lent (and perhaps beyond) and concurrent with that I wanted to develop a more active digital persona. Facebook is not a creative space for me and I hope that this blog will be. Second, outside of people, I like five things: running, reading, writing, bread making, and what I am calling simply "life" but what might be called philosophy or more crudely "thinking about things." Third, I enjoy writing about these things but don't have as much opportunity to do it as I would like.

The reason I was hesitant is that I don't want this to eventually take it's place in alongside all the other blogs that start strong, but then fade into internet oblivion. But this is fear and fear will not get me anywhere. So in spite of the risk of this blog eventually becoming a shadow on your GoogleReader, I proceed. I am willing to try.

Tomorrow: Will I Ever Finish Anna Karenina? Should I Even Try?