If I had enemies, the worst place I could banish them would be inside my mind. It is a place that demonstrates the absence of silence. If I am breathing, my thoughts are racing. Some days the thoughts are worried and stressed. Other times, they are fun, exciting, or even random. Regardless, the search for silence is a daily one for me…

There I was in line at the store (six feet behind the person in front of me) tapping my foot impatiently. What is the holdup? I thought to myself as I waited for the couple checking out. Are they too scared to touch the keypad? Maybe they’re disinfecting their items while still in the store. With each passing tick of the secondhand, I grew in my discontent. Hurry up already! I began to look around for a manager to help speed up the process when the line finally moved…

Have you ever found yourself mirroring the life of someone else? If you want to be a musician, you find a famous musical artist as a role model. As you study that musician, you begin to form your life as a musician around their life. You mimic their forms, training, and style; and suddenly, you are a mini-version of them. This could be in any area of life: teacher, athlete, artist, comedian, business owner, and any other field that exists…

I'm not one for sitting around. Being a mama, I'm always anticipating the needs of my children. Mama, I need a Band-Aid or Mama, I need some more milk or Mama, I need you to tie my shoe. Staying on the move has become the norm. Even in my waiting, I'm moving. While standing in line at the grocery store, I sway back and forth. While sitting at the doctor's office, I tap my feet…

No one loves to wait. We have all been stuck. We all know how it feels when the wait is out of our control and we just want to advance to the next thing. We will often take shortcuts to skip the waiting if at all possible. To quote the famous theologian, Tom Petty…

I have a confession: I am not always the best at waiting.

I’ve driven down I-40, frustrated as all get out because the car in front of me, which also happens to be in the left lane, isn’t going fast enough. I’ve stood in line at the grocery store impatient because I just want to get home. I’ve gotten overwhelmed when I see things happening for others and thought

What's the worst name someone called you? It might've been a parent, a spouse, a teacher, or a friend who threw out this label. Most likely, you can remember the exact word or phrase, as well who said it, how it made you feel, and also how that label impacted you over the years. What was the label? Failure, over-achiever, addict, worthless, ordinary, fat, weird, screw-up? Stop for a moment and reflect on the labels you cling to and let define you…

Rest and downtime are precious, but very rare, when you have young children. A few years back, my wife and I were experiencing this sweet feeling of bliss as both our daughters were off in dreamland. Unfortunately, as soon as the tranquility appeared, it quickly departed when a loud voice and horns jolted us from off the couch…

As a middle schooler, I thought the city pool was the place to see and be seen. Since my friends and I were too young to get a part-time job, our days were consumed with playing Sharks & Minnows and Marco Polo while filling our stomachs with Sunkist Soda and Twizzlers from the Snack Bar.

Still, in terms of popularity, nothing topped the diving board. When someone made his or her way to dive, they knew all eyes were fixed on them…

For over two hours, I tore the house from top to bottom looking for it. No luck. In the midst of my frantic searching, I asked my wife Jenn if she'd seen my beloved Baltimore Orioles hat. She hesitated and then fessed up, "It was disgusting...and I threw it away."

"You did WHAT!?!!" How dare she toss my cherished cap into the garbage? Over the years I had managed to make it fit perfectly around my big noggin…

Rejoice over the fact that we know the story of God’s love and that it doesn’t end on the cross. This is an advantage we have that those who witnessed firsthand what happened to Jesus did not. They were in the dark as the chaos unfolded before their very eyes. Reread today’s passage on the crucifixion of Christ and pay particular attention to how individuals reacted to the events taking place…

Sometimes silence can be deafening. While everything and everyone around you is quiet, content, and fast asleep, you sometimes toss and turn at night, wondering why God seems distant. You struggle to remember the last time you heard His voice. You wrestle with the distance while at the same time yearning for that lost connection….

It feels as if the walls are closing in on me. I've lost track of the days. I'm pretty sure it's Thursday, but one can't be sure.

Like most parents right now, I'm going a bit stir crazy. I have always believed teachers were unappreciated and needed a pay raise, but after becoming the "headmaster" of my kids’ online school over these past few weeks, I'm now nominating every educator for sainthood.

Love requires a lot from us. It isn't strictly a feeling but an enduring action that stretches us. The only way to live out this verse is to see the people we interact with as they indeed are: an incomplete work.

Everyone we lay eyes on is a work in progress. They're weak, wounded, and incomplete. We're called to love people in the good moments and the bad, and trust that Jesus, who began a good work in this individual, will eventually complete that work…

What is God's will for my life?

No other question possesses the power to shut someone down quicker than this one. Trying to figure out God's prompting can be unnerving. Anytime we face an uncertain or uncomfortable situation, our natural inclination is to grasp for control. We begin to formulate God's call for our life based on our limited understanding. However, the Bible insists that our best thoughts don't hold a candle to those of God…