Choosing Motion
We are a nation breathless, lungs squeezed tight by images that come unbidden. Single-file children, crying in terror. Faces of parents, twisted in grief, in disbelief. Tiny ones, smiling from the screen, who knew fear in their last moments here. Fear. When I heard the news about the tragedy in Newtown, CT, my mind immediately went to my own children reading in another room, to my nephews’ faces, to the grinning blue eyes of my niece. A madman’s rampage made me desperate, panicky, to touch and hold and breathe the life scent of the little ones I love. As the day went on, I heard person after grieving person speak my feelings aloud. “I just want to hang onto my kids forever.” “I can’t stop crying.” “What’s wrong with this world? It seems to be just getting...
Read MoreOf Time and Earlobes
Do your ears hang low? Do they wobble to and fro? Can you tie them in a knot? Can you tie them in a bow?” When I was young, I thought this silly children’s song was about the Venables, my mom’s side of our family tree. You see, the Venables have a peculiar, if endearing, trait. As we age, our earlobes continue growing until they dangle to sometimes impressive lengths. And I say “we” because I genuinely hope to be counted among the long-eared Venables someday. The legacy I have is rich and thick, like dark molasses. My great-grandparents, Matt and Verlie, raised six kids and buried one on a Kentucky hillside, somehow making ends meet and love multiply. I never met my great-grandfather, but I hear stories of his prayers. While he walked behind his mule, dragging...
Read MoreWide Receiver
My dream is to be a wide receiver. Now, before you start trying to picture giant men in shoulder pads and helmets tackling my five-foot tall frame, let me explain. This is the season of turkey and trimmings, loosened belts and football games. It’s also a time to slow down and do some thinking, so that’s just what I’m doing. (The thinking part, not the football part!) This week in American homes all over, families will peek at each other around mounds of food and rehearse the “I am thankful for…” list: “I am thankful for my good health.” “I am thankful for my new bike.” “I am thankful we can all be together.” This is good. This is right. But is it enough? You see, there is this undeniable reality that so much about life is completely beyond our control, and things...
Read MoreThe Rabbi’s Math
We’re really very normal people. There’s nothing too extraordinary about us. (Well, Mike can play the recorder with his nose, which I guess is a useful talent since we do work with middle school students.) We argue. I get frustrated with my kids. And one look at my house tells me just how disorganized I am. I once heard someone say, “My whole life is duct taped together.” I love that image. Only I think mine has some clothes pins and chewing gum in there somewhere, too. So what do you get when you drop two ordinary people into an extraordinary story, a God-sized story? To be honest, at times you get two people who are completely overwhelmed, wondering if what they have to give is enough. After all, we’re just a guy with a youth ministry degree, a quirky sense...
Read MoreWhat in the world are we thinking?!!!
What in the word are we thinking?!!! As I watch my highly energetic 23 month-old scramble around the living room at a mile a minute, I can’t help but ask myself this question. After all, we are planning to take this child and her equally energetic pre-teen sister on a 30+ hour trans-continental trip next Fall. . . just to turn around a month later and do it all over again. And we’re taking school on the road (and in the air!) with us. And we have to raise $17,000 to do it. What ARE we thinking? Honestly, it’s tempting to tremble and quake when we think about the logistics of everything that needs to be done in the next year to prepare for our trip to Papua New Guinea: planning, fundraising, visas, a passport for our youngest, finding people to fill in for...
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