by the Night Writer ELINOR: Surely you don’t compare your conduct with his? MARIANNE: No. I compare it with what it ought to have been. I compare it with yours. – from “Sense and Sensibility” In Part 1 I outlined the reasons and the need to pursue self-development, but also the risks of emulating someone [...]
by the Night Writer Note: if you’re looking for the Monday Anorex[st]ic Inaneymous, scroll down to the next post. About this time last year, an emerging star and influential blogger in the Self Development field announced that his personal journey had brought him to such heights of self-awareness and emotional and spiritual development that it [...]
by the Night Writer The other night someone’s comment made me pause, as I do around this time of the year, to reflect on the Christmas message of a Savior coming amongst us. Readers familiar with my annual “Christmas Special” will recall that the first benefit of faith (and grace) is not in getting what [...]
by the Night Writer I spoke to our Inside Outfitters group back on December 19th, elaborating on the “return from captivity” message I originally shared with the men at Red Wing. This was our annual Christms meeting where the men of our church go all out in preparing hams, fried eggs and pancakes with special [...]
by the Night Writer We’ve just gone through the Thanksgiving holiday and we’re heading fast for Christmas. It’s an easy time of year to be thankful and to think of the blessings we’ve received, especially from God. But what if your life doesn’t look or feel that blessed at the moment? Do your present circumstances [...]
by the Night Writer Miles from home. Your foundation shaken. Your family at risk. Your past a curse, your future uncertain. Enemies await. And yet, hope grows. For the last six months or so I’ve been making the hour-long drive down to the Red Wing Correctional Center a couple of times a month. While it [...]
by the Night Writer 1 Corinthians 13: 4 – 7, in reverse Hate is impatient and unkind; hate envies and boasts; it is arrogant and rude. It insists on its own way; it is irritable and resentful; it rejoices at wrongdoing, and does not rejoice with the truth. Hate bears nothing, believes nothing, hopes for [...]
by the Night Writer My birthday was last week, and one of the presents I received was a collection of daily excerpts from the writings of German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer (thanks, Ben). Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazis on April 9, 1945, only days before Hitler committed suicide and the arrival of allied troops in [...]
by the Night Writer A short time ago I wrote a brief post about Romans 12:2, comparing our lives to a lump of clay either conformed by the world or transformed by God; either squeezed or pressed into a mold or filled and expanded as if by a hand reaching inside us as we spin [...]
There is a lot of commentary back and forth following Tuesday’s post about the German family seeking political asylum in the U.S. so that they can have the freedom to home-educate their children. This has had me thinking of the role of parents, and of fathers, and reminded me of something that happened at our [...]
