What is your conflict style?
I am teaching a class on emotionally healthy relationships this winter. Prepping for one of my classes, I remembered an assessment I took about 5 years ago by Jim Van Yperen, a church-conflict specialist. It’s […]
Cause the fruit of your Spirit to keep ripening in my life, Lord
Galatians 5:16-17 in the New Living Translation perfectly describes the struggle we face every single day: 16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature […]
Author nails it with — The #MeToo Reckoning (Facing the Church's Complicity in Sexual Abuse And Misconduct)
After Reading Ruth Everhart’s 2016 “Ruined,” the powerful, painful memoir of her rape at gunpoint when she was a college student, I was touched by her courage to go on with her life. That compelled […]
8 "Secrets" to get you way beyond Valentine's Day
More than 4 decades of marriage have taught me 8 “secrets” that might just give you a leg up this Valentine’s Day. Of course, you’ll have to do your own hard work, just like I […]
Remembering Auschwitz at 75
Thousands have gathered in recent days to remember one of the great horrors of history and the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. When I was a sophomore in high school I read […]
Clarifying expectations works, to a degree
Trying to read someone’s mind does not work. I’ve tried it many times without much success. Talking face to face with someone and clarifying expectations does work most of the time, but it’s work and […]
Quit trying to read somebody's mind
I talked with a pastor recently who said of one of his parishioners, “I assume he doesn’t like me.” “Wow,” I said, “Can you read his mind?” “Well, I can tell by how he acts […]
"What do you want?" sometimes becomes "Okay, but how do I discover what I really want?"
The first words attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John are addressed to two of John the Baptist’s disciples who are following Jesus. Jesus turns to them and asks, “What do you want?” I […]
