Written by the Story

Dear Good Shepherd and friends, I'm often struck by things said in our culture. Often it is something said within the realm of our entertainment/Hollywood industry. One phrase that hits me as interesting and puzzling is the phrase: "Who are you wearing?" It usually comes out during award season, when actors and actresses walk the red carpet, and all of the photographers and interviewers say something like, " Sandra Bullock! You look amazing! Who are you wearing? " She's not wearing anybody. She's wearing clothes. Now, I get it, they want to know the name of the one responsible for the clothes on her body. But the language of the question is really strange, I think. It's like the clothes take on their own identity. It's almost like the actor or actress and the clothing designer have lost their personal identity and are now identified by the clothing. She is basically a human advertisement for the clothing made by a human designer. What everyone no...

  Dear Good Shepherd and friends, Our daughter Stella likes to make things. She especially likes to make lemonade and orange juice. Fresh lemons or oranges, water, and some sugar. Three ingredients. She's not bad at it, either. The kitchen counter is usually left a sticky mess, but it's a fine trade for fresh OJ or lemonade.  The other day, it was orange juice. We had been given an abundance of oranges, and so she saw an opportunity. In order to get the juice from the oranges, she sometimes uses a hand-held citrus squeezer. It's a helpful gadget that compresses a lemon, lime, or orange, and it has holes to squeeze out the juice, but keep any seeds. Pretty nifty tool, if you ask me.  Well, this kitchen tool sometimes is not big enough for large lemons or most oranges. And if the citrus fruit is too large, it won't squeeze down, and if it won't squeeze down on the orange, then no juice. Or, if you're lucky, you'll get some juice, but not the maximal amount.  S...

  Dear Good Shepherd and friends, Your life matters.  That's a big phrase these days. I'm using it differently. Many of us struggle from day to day wondering how our life matters to the people and the world around us. We live and go through our routines. How much does it all matter? In what way is there significance and meaning to the lives we live? There's a pretty big demand in our culture of "doing." If we're not doing enough, speaking out enough, then will we have an impact? It can be very overwhelming. It doesn't have to be. You don't need to prove yourself or your worth according to the criteria of our culture for your life to matter. Here's the thing: you already matter. Your life means something to those around you. Maybe you matter because you are a wife, husband, daughter, son, parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle. You meet needs. You provide comfort, companionship, love, or advice. Each of us is relationally involved in someone's life....

  Dear Good Shepherd and friends, A while back, Laura and I played tag with our kids. It took a bit of time to let down our "grown up" attitudes and let the game take us away and just have unhindered fun. There were times of strategy, of out-flanking the kids, of anticipating their next move. And there were times of full-on chase.  Eventually, because Laura and I were both in the game, there was a moment when one of us was after the other. Full on chase. Take no prisoners.  I ran. Laura ran. We climbed up the park slide to avoid being tagged. We put our lives at risk. And we couldn't help but smile and giggle. It made my face feel funny. I almost felt like we shouldn't be acting this way. We're grown-ups, right? Tag is a kids game. But, no. The joy took over our lives for a few moments. The kids loved watching it. We loved it.  _____________________________________ We had opened the doors to childlike play. And I think it was a spiritual moment. What did we feel? ...

  Dear Good Shepherd and friends, Here's what I'd like to see someday on fb, instagram, twitter, snapchat, or whatever popular social media platform people are using: Just got done yelling at my wife/husband. We don't normally connect very well, to be honest. He/she doesn't always make all my dreams come true. And I rushed the kids out the door again this morning. Couldn't wait for them to be out of the house. Today is 80% frustration, 20% enjoyment. #notblessed I'd like it to be a real post. With the messy house in the background. No staged stuff. Not a manufactured bad day post. Nor do I want it to be the type of post that makes being imperfect a badge of honor. It's not that I want people's lives to be difficult. What I'm getting at is that we seldom see real posts that are not afraid to be raw and honest, and not filtered or posed, posts that actually don't try to make one's life seem all happy all the time.  Let's be brutally honest:...

  D ear Good Shepherd and friends, I've been thinking about the transitions we're all dealing with as fall approaches. Each new fall brings with it a turn in the road. Every child enters a new grade in school. Parents transition back into school-year rhythms. Schedules. Homework. Extra-curricular stuff. Driving people places. There are also uncertainties and challenges. This fall, there are uncertainties and challenges and transitions that go well beyond the normal ones we're used to each fall.  With any new school year, there are things about it that bring anxiety, fear, nerves. Some students dread the classroom. Some can't wait. With entering into new grades, some will no doubt be anxious. It's part of life. And, while we might think they're used to it, that going back to school in the fall is no big deal, that they've done it before, it still might be unnerving for them.  For some adults, the change from summer into fall might bring a busier schedule. Per...

Confession: life is hard. We all get that. Another confession: we're usually to blame. Aside from human tragedy, which will beset all of us at some point, most of our difficulty in life is because we're just really obstinate human beings. By this, I mean to say that collectively and individually, we stubbornly refuse the best course of action in front of us, often to our own detriment, and then we complain about how tough life is and give excuses for why. That's the human story, both from a Biblical standpoint and, well, just from simple observation. It leaves me with a lot of questions and sometimes frustration. This week we in our house had a very difficult conversation (read: "family blow up"). It was everybody. No one person lit the fuse. The fuse was already lit some time in the past. It was the accumulation of individual instances of refusing to take the better course of action.  Sure, we're all struggling. We're in a new place. New changes in life. ...