Four and a half years ago, someone gave my newborn daughter a paperback book called Let it Snow. I’ve probably read it several hundred times since then, in part because we had another child who loved the book as much as my oldest daughter.
Tag: grace
What My Daughter Said When I Asked How She Felt
My youngest daughter, who is three, is affectionate, smart, and perceptive – but at the same time, she’s a major handful sometimes. She’s getting better, but over the course of her three years of life, she has been known to do things like . . .
So You Got Robbed at Church – Now What?
On Sunday, I was taking my daughters downstairs to their Sunday School class when I passed a couple of women on their way up to the sanctuary. One of the two women was looking down; the other was holding her arm and whispering into her ear. It seemed odd to me, but I was most concerned that the visitors feel comfortable; and I just assumed that the woman looking down had a disability or something. She didn’t.
How God Told Me to Go to Law School
It was my senior year of college, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with my life. So I began asking for advice from trusted mentors, and one suggested that I go to law school. Although I initially balked at the idea, after I did some research, law seemed like a good fit for me — I had a knack for writing, analysis and oral argument (just ask my mother). But the problem was that I had originally planned to become a missionary after college, so I felt uneasy with the idea of pursuing a career that would…
What to do With the Things You Hate About Yourself
Back in 2008, I followed the advice of a dear friend and interviewed a few people about the impact my life had on them. The interview questions were designed to illicit mostly negative responses, and boy, did they ever.
The Holy Spirit Literally Opened a Door for My Family Today
The other day, I had a phone conversation with a priest who serves an extremely impoverished population. He also has a ministry in which he teaches people how to be more aware of themselves and God during their daily lives. The way we ended up on the phone is so random that it’s not even worth it to explain, but what stood out to me was how joyful, sharp, and engaged he was – especially as he talked about the Holy Spirit. I admire people who can concretely talk about the Holy Spirit; because although He feels closer than my skin sometimes, at other…
Experiencing God’s Presence with an Odd Lady on the Bus
The other morning, I sprinted three blocks in a suit and dress shoes to catch my bus and just barely made it before the bus pulled away. As I walked down the aisle breathing heavily, I passed a young, striking, African-American woman, who spoke in a high, Disney princess-like voice and asked, “How is your day going, sir?” I walked past her and bluntly said, “Not too well.”
Man Enough to Be Yourself With Other Men
You don’t have to look far in the church to find your fair share of male loners who struggle to have authentic friendships with other men. They know how to be in the same room with other men, and they know how to do things with them — but emotional transparency is off-limits.
How to Fall in Love with Your Spouse Again
A couple of days ago, I was getting on the Metro when I saw a young woman did something that caught my eye. She noticed that her beau was on our train, and she plowed through the people on the train to get to him.
Five Reasons I’m Glad I’m Married
Recently, I wrote a post on Boundless in which I compared marriage to being a new homeowner and reminded single readers that marriage is a process that involves a lot of hard work. I still stand by everything I said, but some of our readers responded and made a good point: Married Christians have a nasty habit of providing endless know-it-all warnings about the various reasons marriage is going to be way harder than single folks can imagine. One reader commented that, actually, it’s easy for her to imagine all the things that could go wrong with marriage; she preferred to…
Finding Jesus at a Painful Craigslist Purchase
My wife has gone Craigslist crazy lately and is finding all these great deals on furniture for our new home, which is great, but picking up the furniture can get complicated. The other day, she told me she wanted to get this armoire from a moving sale, and I resisted. Well, anyway, I lost that battle, and the next thing I knew, I was setting Google Maps to find a gated home in the boonies of Maryland. This was the beginning of what will go down as one of the roughest Craigslist purchases in history.
The Reason Why My Mom Locked Me Out of the House
When I was a little boy, my mother would regularly tell my brother Caleb and me to go outside and play. We were happy to oblige for a half hour or so, but then we would get hot and bored and decide to go back inside. However, when we came back to the house, we would often discover she had locked us out.
What Happens to Others When You Go on a Facebook Rant
The other day, someone posted a rant on Facebook in which they laid down the law about certain people who have a particular lame habit, which I shall not name here. The point is, their rant totally applied to me, and I involuntarily felt defensive.
What You May Not Want to Hear About Marriage
After aggressively saving for a while, my wife and I just purchased a home that was totally remodeled. When the inspector was going through the house, he warned us that during the course of the first year, the new structure would settle, leaving cracks in the walls. Then a friend who purchased a similar home warned me that no matter how good the house looked, I would find all kinds of things wrong with it during the first year. Despite getting this advice from an experienced home inspector and a trusted friend, my internal reaction in response was, My house is going to be different.
What You Can Say to a DC Parking Ticket Cop
The other day, I met a D.C. traffic-directing cop in the line at J.C. Penney, and I remarked how dangerous her job was. “I mean, people in D.C. drive so crazy,” I said. “You could get killed.”
Joshua Rogers 