I’m headed out of town this morning to help some people move.  Moving is always fun.

I’m helping my grandparents move.  Not quite like helping my bachelor friends move.  I won’t be handling any futons or neon signs.  And none of the furniture will be made of particle board.

It’s a big day.  I don’t think my grandmother wants to move all that much.  But it’s too late now.  Here’s why the day is so unbelievably huge.

(more…)

It’s April, and the school year is coming to a close.

And every morning before school, I see the children waiting for the bus across the street from my house.

I don’t think I would really notice the kids…except it also appears that a bunch of adults are waiting to catch the bus to school too.  Maybe they’re in remedial fourth grade.

But they’re not a bunch of adult fourth graders.  Every child has a parent waiting for the bus with them.  You know, standing next to them…in public.

And every afternoon, there are cars lined up along my street.  The same parents are waiting to pick their kids up…from the bus. I am incredulous.

And every day, I say the same thing to myself…

What is wrong with you people?  Get off my lawn, you street urchins!

Because it’s not just the bus stop.  The way I see things, it says everything about what kind of kids we’re raising.

(more…)

Chances are if you went to church yesterday, there were a few extra strangers sitting near you.

Yesterday afternoon, Twitter was flush with people reporting that Easter at their church was “crazy” or “awesome” or “crazy awesome,” because a ton of people showed up.

And while I don’t want to throw cold water on everyone coming off their chocolate fueled Easter high, I’ve got one reaction to everyone who thinks their Easter was insane, and to the churches whose Easter was maybe less than “insane:”

So what?

Actually, I’ve got a bit more to say about it than that.  Let’s talk about real success and failure in church.

(more…)

Gather round, children.  Bring your candy eggs and chocolate bunnies.

We’ve all heard the Easter story dozens of times.  And we’re going to hear it again on Sunday.  And you’ve probably been inundated with Easter related blogs and tweets all this week.

But I have a very special Easter message for you.  Have you ever thought of who Jesus’ best friend in the whole wide world was the last week he was here on Earth?  The answer may surprise you.

(more…)

I love the earth.

I may have given the impression otherwise.  I’ve confessed that I’m an agnostic when it comes to global warming.  I’ll admit that I’m not a tree hugger.  In fact, the thought of a rabid tree hugger often makes me want to kick a tree right in the crotch, just so those trees don’t start thinking too highly of themselves.

But I do think we ought to take care of the earth.  And I hate to see people giving environmentalism a bad name by shamelessly advertising their “compassion” for the earth while really doing nothing.  Environmentalism is like an accessory to most people, like a Livestrong bracelet.

Of course, there are a ton of cliché methods to commemorate Earth Day.  However, instead of planting a tree, I’ve got three suggestions for how you can celebrate this Earth Day on Friday and “Green Week” until then!

(more…)

Happy Monday.  Woo!

I haven’t done anything like this in a while, and I always think it’s a great time getting to know this community better, so today’s a super special fun time blog day!

Today I want you to ask me a question.  Any question, really.  Ask me about something that you don’t know about me.  Or you can ask me for a piece of advice.  I give great advice.  This weekend, a reader asked my advice about her son’s college choices.  For real.  It was fun.  It can be something like that, or you can ask me something less consequential, like the best way to cook a steak.

Here’s the catch.  If you’re asking me something about myself, you have to answer the question about yourself.  And if you ask me for a piece of advice, you have to give me a piece of advice on a topic of your choice.  The usefulness of the advice I give you will be proportional to the usefulness of your advice.  Got it?

Also, take a moment to notice the new features here on the blog.  I’ve totally overhauled the navigation and sidebar.  There’s a few related posts listed in the sidebar from the archives, for your amusement.  You’ll see a place where the top commenters are posted.  It’s tallied over the last five days, and you can see it only takes a few comments to get your name on the banner.  I’ve been told that my blog really does drive traffic to readers’ blogs.  So getting advertised on my blog very well may change your life for the better.

I’ve also made it easier than ever to contact me.  The “Contact,” “Free Stuff,” and “Speaking” pages all have integrated message forms.  No more copying and pasting email addresses.  Yea!

If you don’t have a photo that pops up when you comment, head over to Gravatar to get set up.  Gravatar is recognized by many commenting systems, so it’ll work on lots of different blogs, not just mine.  And I love to have a face to put with a name.

Okay, let’s have some fun with the questions.  Ready?  Go.