Explaining America

Today on YouTube I saw a video done by an Irish woman titled “10 AMERICAN Problems I'm TOO IRISH to Understand.” She, in turn, was pulling these items from a discussion on reddit titled “What's an American problem you're too European to understand?” Now, I’ve been an American for over four decades. What’s more, I’ve …

First Lean Coffee Recap

I went to my first Lean Coffee meetup today. It was amazing. Great conversation. Learned a lot. The group represented a wide range of people: Programmers, Scrum Masters, Testers, Product Owners, HR, Agile Coaches, etc. with both men and women in all roles. Great cross section. Here is my attempt to process some of what …

When Adding and Subtracting is Bad

"You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you." Deuteronomy 4:2 The violation of this injunction is obvious in the cults and heresies which do this explicitly (e.g. adding another testament, removing or re-writing …

Surrender

I can't sing the hymn, "I Surrender All" because, frankly, I don't. The best I can claim is that I want to want to surrender all.

Prayer

Today I read a great article on prayer. It's not hot off the presses, having been posted in 2016. I can't say anything in it was exactly new to me either. There was no earth shattering revelation. In the almost two thousand years of the Christian church much has been written on the topic. I …

Words to Live By

Words for Pastors to live by. Word for parents to live by. Words for all believers to live by...

As You Wish…

In film Princes Bride, the character of Wesley, in his guise as the Dread Pirate Roberts, says to Princess Buttercup, "Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something." Life is pain. "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. …

Church Planting Movement in Scotland

We Americans (meaning those of us in the United States) are obsessed with origins. Historically, ethnicity and nationality have largely been the same thing (yes, I realize this is an oversimplification). While migration has become more fluid, that still holds mostly true for the majority of the world. With few exceptions, Germans are German, the …

A Problem of the Working Poor

A family of eight: two parents, six kids. The two parents work three jobs between them. They have two vehicles: One large vehicle which fits the entire family, and a smaller commuting vehicle. Both vehicles are old. The commuting vehicle experienced a catastrophic failure unrelated to regular maintenance. They don't have the money to fix …

Dual Display on the Go

I just wanted to take a moment to give a shout-out to one of my favorite iPad apps: Duet Display. Anyone who's had the luxury of working on a computer with a dual display (two screen) setup knows how much easier and more productive it is. If you find yourself frequently working outside the office, …