Family

It's been a while since I've flexed my blogging muscles.  Not that we haven't been busy.  We closed on our new house last week movie using services from adtmoving online and have been painting, enormous amounts of house cleaning, cleaning up paint, boxing, and unboxing.  It's been so much fun! In a way, moving is cathartic.  Next to each box was a trash bag.  If I hadn't seen something in the last five years, it became a candidate for the trash bag, and we also got some pest removal services to help us keep the house clean.  Things I thought I once "had to have" went in the bag.  Or, they went to Goodwill so the circle of life can continue. The other nice thing about moving is getting to re-create your space.  Same stuff, different rooms and angles.  For the first four hours, it feels like you're at a…

For ninety-nine cents I couldn't pass it up. That's how much paperbacks cost at Goodwill.  Granted, most of them are worth about ninety-nine cents.  Romance novels, even less. Not this one.  This particular book did for me something few books ever do: it changed the way I live.  It did so by changing the way I viewed Jesus.  As a teenager, for the first time, Jesus became a living, breathing person to me.  With words and images, it painted color between the black and white lines of scripture. It was Max Lucado's "No Wonder They Call Him the Savior". Over the years, I have given copies of this book to new believers and non-believers alike.  As my two daughters have grown older, I have thought about getting them a copy as well.  And there it was -- for only ninety-nine cents.  My oldest is about the age when I first…

Recently I was reminded of a Michael Martin Murphey song that I once had on a cassette tape.  For those of you unfamiliar with what a cassette is, I've included a link to Wikipedia where you can read an article and view a picture.  The song is entitled, "A Long Line of Love." I come from a long line of love. When the times get hard, we don't give up. Forever is in my heart and in my blood. You see I come from a long line of love. We all stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us.  We drive on roads someone else built.  And if you're blessed, you have a heritage of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers or sisters -- all who form a long line of love. And if your line of love is shorter than you'd like, take heart.  You're building the…

Today is December 26, also known as "The Day After."  Just as John 3:17 has lived in the shadow of its more famous predecessor, December 26 is the day that is privileged to follow Christmas.  It's the day when we clean up, throw away, and rest.  Some families have a tradition of opening a gift on Christmas Eve; none that I know of save one for The Day After. This morning, the morning of The Day After, I'm sitting at the table with my second pot of coffee and thinking about the past few weeks.  Here are a few of my reflections: Christmas in America has become more than a season.  It now begins before Halloween.  The fourth quarter should be renamed the Christmas quarter. Many people are trying to do Christmas differently.  They are trying to simplify and are more intentional about how they spend their money. People are…