Mary Kay and I have met with three other couples over the last several years, working through the Good and Beautiful series by James Bryan Smith (thanks, Marc Sundstrom). Smith does an excellent job at creating a process to live out some of Dallas Willard’s thoughts and writings on life transformation.  In the second to…

These past few weeks have been really frantic for Mary Kay and me.  We are packing and purging, all the while trying to bring a 37-year season of life to closure.  During this time, we have raised our kids and loved our grandkids; I had four careers, and MK also had several, hopefully loved and…

Last week, I wrote about how being in Christ enables me to maintain the tension of healthy relationships. As we are in Christ, we respond to his love for us by keeping his commands out of our love for him.  In John 15.9-10, he tells us, “As the Father has loved me, so have I…

What is the difference between needing relationships and finding our significance in relationships?  We all need relationships, especially healthy ones that are life-giving. However, at times, it is easy to mistake this need for a sense that we are only significant IF we have this need met, even if in an unhealthy manner.  It is…

Last week, I described the three influences that tamed me over the last 50 years: 1) spiritual transformation, 2) journaling, and 3) parenting. I briefly looked at the first two, now let’s tackle how my marriage and parenting have changed me. When I first got married 47 years ago, my life revolved around me.  As…

Last week, I wrote about how it bothered me that my grammar was so poor, and my writing was like vomiting words and thoughts with no appropriate restraint or reflection.  Why did this bother me? Let’s face it, that was 47 years ago!  I think part of the problem is that I don’t like to…

In the midst of MK’s purging, she found a bag of letters which I sent her during our second dating series.  All the way back to the first letter dated 7/12/76. Beginning with this letter and then reading the next few months of letters, I was struck by several things.  The first was how verbal…

Last week, I described some of my dissonance with the term “laws.”  As I identified, some have to do with my hardware (personality) and some with my software (family/culture of origin).  But another factor influencing it has to do with my passion to be creative.  I love thinking of innovative solutions to challenges we face. …

Last week, I talked about the book entitled Laws of Lifetime Growth by Dan Sullivan.  At the outset of the book, I felt my gut twist when I read the word “Laws” in the title.  Ironically, Dan Sullivan, the author, states in the introduction to the book, “If the word law makes you uncomfortable…You might…