Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
One of the books on leadership I read during my D.Min. program was Summoned to Lead by Leonard Sweet, whom I’ve gotten to hear at a couple of conferences in the past. I enjoy everything Sweet writes, and I especially enjoyed this book which drew leadership lessons from the life and expedition of Sir Ernest … Read more
In the months before we brought Ethan home from Korea, a friend told us about teaching her children sign language even before they were able to communicate with words. One of the first signs we taught Ethan was “more” (to help us know if he was still hungry and wanted more food). And recently, we’ve … Read more
We wondered how Ethan would handle our recent vacation, visiting family in Tennessee. It was the longest Ethan’s been away from home since being with us. As it turns out, he handled it pretty well. Ethan went to sleep each night without too much difficulty, but he didn’t get as much sleep as he needed … Read more
At a “breakfast with Santa” this morning, we overheard someone jokingly ask their child what they were going to say when Santa asked if they’ve been good this year. Moments later, Joleen and I discovered that we both were thinking about that exchange. The lyrics of the song, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, warn … Read more
I have waited 20 years to write this post, even though the blog has only been around a few years. In the earliest days of my Christ-following journey (as a college student), I read as much as I could about the lives of preachers who’ve gone before us. One of those people was E.M. Bounds, … Read more
Last night, Joleen, Ethan, and I went to Seoul Korean Restaurant, an authentic Korean restaurant in Chattanooga, TN. You can read their story at chattanoogan.com. You can also read about our last visit to an authentic Korean restaurant here. We met one of the co-owners, Kye Cha Paris, who was very helpful. She really enjoyed … Read more
Toward the end of a long day of travel on Friday, I reflected on something I’ve heard before, that most auto accidents occur in the last few miles of a trip (i.e. near home). After driving about 8 hours, and nearing our destination, it struck me that one reason that may be the case is … Read more
As we headed out of PA toward TN, we expected to see cheaper gas prices. After leaving Clearfield, we filled up in Hagerstown, paying $1.89/gallon, down 10 cents/gallon from prices just borth of the PA/MD border. As we continued driving south, gas prices continued to drop as well, to $1.78/gallon, and finally to $1.69/gallon. Since … Read more
While it’s Saturday, this Saturday is not a normal Saturday (because we’re on vacation). Most Saturday nights, though, it’s just Ethan and I while Mommy leads a worship gathering at West Side. Sometimes we play. Sometimes Ethan let’s me do last-minute work on my sermon for the following day. One Saturday, a few weeks ago, … Read more
We have now lived in Clearfield almost 5 months. On one of our walks awhile back, we took a number of photos around town. We intended to take more on future walks but haven’t gotten back to it yet. We are enjoying getting to know our new home town. We both found ourselves saying, after … Read more