About My Blog

People are always telling me, “I hope you are writing all this down. Someday, you should write it all in a book.” These posts are all the notes to myself for the someday book. Some entries will be like a baby book, memories of encounters with my son. Others will be humorous and disturbing conversations from my life as a preacher and pastor. I want to write in order to reflect, to think through ideas, to imagine and enter a conversation with others. I hope a few posts will be good ideas that don’t yet have a home or a context, that can be recorded here like a notebook I can return to later. For the someday book.

The posts you will find here are as diverse as I am. They are reflections on the whole of my life, not just parts of it, and the subject matter ranges freely over all aspects of  life.  I write in order to think, to pray and to reflect, and every moment of encounter is fodder for that process.

Some of it may be entertaining, enlightening, amusing. Some of it may only matter to me. Some of it may not make any sense at all. But now it will be here, ready for the someday book.

Book Reviews

I don’t just read books, I consume them. Nearly 10 years ago, I realized I was reading so much so fast that I could barely remember what I was reading. To make myself slow down and reflect, I began writing a brief review of every book I read. When I started the blog, I began posting the reviews here. The reviews I write tell the story of my encounter with the book, rather than attempting to summarize the argument or plot. They are often highly personal and can be as much about me as they are about the book. If you would like to suggest a book for me to read and review, I welcome your input.

If you want to skip the Book Reviews, click on the Just Reflections menu tab. Or, if you love books but don’t care about the rest, click on Just Book Reviews.

Sermons

I do not usually post sermons here from the congregation that I serve. Instead, they are available on my church’s blog of sermon podcasts and videos. However, from time to time I will post a sermon given outside my home church for a special occasion, or a Sermon Sapling, which is writing done early in the week in preparation for preaching.

Practicing Families

I am also a regular contributor to Practicing Families, a project dedicated to helping families practice the way of Jesus in daily life. I contribute a monthly post to either the Practicing Parents or Practicing with Children column.

I created this blog to be a space for my personal writing. While I often express thoughts or ideas about the practice of ministry, these thoughts and reflections and opinions are mine alone, and do not represent my church, denomination or anyone else but me. While I often write reflections on real events in ministry, all identifying information is changed to protect the anonymity of those involved. I will frequently write about something when it happens, but wait weeks or months to post to protect anonymity.