There is plenty in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount to wrestle with. Does he really mean, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and threw it away”? Does he really mean, “Blessed are those who mourn”? Wait … um, doesn’t the Bible also command me to rejoice? (See Philippians 4:4; Nehemiah […]
life
Jesus Has a Brand?
It is interesting how powerful a symbol can be. There is one particular logo I have seen in many different languages (the one shown above is in Amharic, the most common language spoken in Ethiopia, where I went in 2012). The same is true for the other languages in which I have seen the classic white […]
Millennials (Pt. 3): Passion Tea and Passing Trains
This generation—we’re all on a train, really. The conductor on the intercom said the next stop is Destiny . . . but mile after aimless mile meander by the window, and the passing grass looks browner every minute. Well, while we’re both seated here, let’s talk. Okay, barista, I know working at Starbucks is not […]
Millennials and “Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy”
A recent CBS article reported millennials are more educated but less skilled than their predecessors. Last year, I read a poignant yet hilarious article on WaitButWhy.com called “Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy.” Thinking of the trajectory of my career as an educator and my personal journey as a young millennial, it’s prompted me to do […]
4 Tips from Veteran Teachers on Finishing Well
The hallway was misty dark. A lone security light shone. I walked into the front office of my school to clock in. It was quiet, too quiet. It’s odd how empty a school can feel without the familiar, raucous noise of children. On this teacher workday, though, what needed cleaning more than the walls of my […]
Madman or American Hero? (part 1)
Sitting in Mrs. Tuggle’s 5th grade classroom as a 10 year-old, with U.S. maps and Gettysburg Address posters on the walls, I remember a few things. When I wasn’t presenting about the great locomotive chase of Kennesaw Mountain or staring blankly down my t-shirt in my desk, we learned about U.S. History since the Civil […]
What’s Your Life Shaped Like? Thoughts on the Universe, Part II
To introduce our unit on cells and mathematical powers of ten, I showed my class the 1977 video “Powers of Ten.” The film shows the relative sizes of objects ranging from galaxies to protons and electrons. It’s astounding—Charles and Ray Eames created such a good film that it’s still relevant almost forty years later. In […]
What’s your Life Shaped Like? Part I
1. 2. Which is your life shaped more like? Is it the Christmas ornament box, or the solar system planetarium? Choose wisely. Now it’s time for some thoughts on our universe. The two books theory says you can learn about God in two ways: (1) what he explicitly tells man; and (2) what He created. […]