parent problem #4: overreacting

i stopped by my wife’s classroom yesterday to drop off something for her.  as i stood outside her door, i heard my wife lovingly encourage a little girl with autism.  she said, “that is so good, sweetheart!”  my heart swelled with pride for my wife, and i was infused with a new appreciation of her skills. but what if she had [...]

parent problem #3: enablement

in case you haven’t figured it out by now, i have become a big fan of ron clark (author and former disney teacher of the year winner) and the piece he wrote for cnn.com entitled, “what teachers really want to tell parents.” my wife and son are public school teachers and, while they both love kids and are [...]

parent problem #2: codependence

my son, ryan (a high school teacher/coach), recently sent me a link to a cnn.com piece written by ron clark entitled “what teachers really want to tell parents” (you can read it here).  beyond compelling, it brought back a lot of memories from my youth ministry days.  my wife and i dealt with a lot of myopic parents down [...]

parent problem #1: gullibility

there are few topics i am intensely dogmatic about (no matter what my regular readers may tell you), but  i get pretty steamed when stupid parents mess up kids.   i was a youth pastor for fifteen years, and i feel like i have an informed perspective.  look, parenting is difficult in the best of [...]

redefining ministry success

my good friends, jeff and kay lucas are in town and we had a delightful time sharing lunch yesterday.  i was telling them about my season of introspection (more than a season, i suppose, as i have been re-evaluating my dreams, goals, and values for several years now) that is exciting and painful simultaneously.  all this comes as [...]

an irreverent moment at a funeral

when you preach a funeral, one of your jobs is to lead the processional down the center aisle, out of the church to the hearse.  you’re also supposed to look very somber throughout the whole process. i don’t know why…it’s just one of the rules. at a recent funeral i was asked to officiate, i [...]

what happened to a generation of kids?

okay, help me out bloggy buddies… i am currently reading “december, 1941″ by craig shirley (great book, by the way) which is basically a journal of daily life in america in…wait for it…december, 1941.  i have been around a long time (born in 1956), but i am still stunned by how different the world was [...]

choosing the good over the convenient

i know everybody on the blogosphere refers you to others posts (“you simply must read this!”).  but this is different.  you simply must read this. gabe lyons has written an uber-important piece that also happens to be meaningful and moving.  he calls it, “to cade and the eight percent.”  you can read it here. and [...]

pooh on accountability

another great meeting this morning with “my guys.” one thing that happened struck me as kinda’ funny. as the meeting was breaking up we asked one another (as we most always do), “what are you struggling with?”  rob (with whom i’ve been meeting regularly for almost twenty years) said, “i’m struggling with the same thing [...]