An ancient Greek inscription from at least 2600 years ago reads, “Know Thyself.” This notion captured the attention of many early Greek...

What's happened to us? In the past week an elected U.S. Representative heckled the President during a nationally televised speech with a...

Every couple who has been married a long time has stories they repeat. One of ours has to do with me being salutatorian in high school...

Lisa, my dear spouse, tends Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats who often show up in her blog posts. I may have rolled my eyes at that a few...

You know that thing where you're in a crowded restaurant and it's hard to hear the people you're with? So you talk louder, and your...

In three separate conversations today and yesterday, I have been reminded of how deeply we long to be seen. Beneath our various...

In northwest Oregon, as with much of the country, we've been enduring some Very Cold weather in recent days. One of my tasks is to swap...

Lisa Graham McMinn and I are each memorizing poems this Advent season, trying to push against the inevitable cognitive slippage of life...

I loved his Bostonian accent. Amidst a crowd of tall people, I was just 9 years old on May 17, 1968 when I listened to Robert F. Kennedy...

I started this series because of David Brooks. His article, "How America Got Mean" reflects the pulse of contemporary society, and while...

I've saved the best for last. Inspired by David Brooks's article, "How America Got Mean," I am offering ten challenges for how we might...

In writing this blog series on how not to be so mean, I keep getting redirected to Charles Schultz, creator of the famed Peanuts comic...

The Perfunctory Opening Paragraph I'm writing a series of posts prompted by David Brooks's article in The Atlantic titled, "How America...

So many internet quotes are just plain wrong. In 1942, Thumper, the fictional Disney rabbit in the animated film Bambi, proclaimed, "If...

I almost aborted this project, but then changed my mind. Inspired by David Brooks's article in The Atlantic, I'm writing ten challenges...

I was mean this week. I'm blogging about how not to be mean, but even with this on my mind I fell short. After spending hours crafting an...

Football season is here, and with it comes my annual moral tension. On one hand, I love the game. Some see it as brutal, but to me it is...

A colleague recently said to me, "We all make so many mistakes in life." Something deep inside resonated with both the sadness and...

It’s a question I’ve been asking a lot lately, and I hear others asking it, too, in my circle of friends, faith community, and small...

How did you experience life yesterday? Were you angry? Did people treat you with respect? Were you well rested? These are the sorts of...