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365 Devotionals: John 3:16

This is how God loved the world: He gave his own one and only son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
-John 3:16 NLT

For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
-John 3:17 RSV

Jesus came to save, not condemn.

Condemnation is hot right now. Social sins are condemned and people are ostracized for the moral failings.

Maybe we can be more like Jesus and work to save rather than reproach.

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365 Devotionals: Small Sacrifice

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.”
-Matthew 13:44 NLT

When the goal is something as great as Heaven, no sacrifice can seem large.

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Maybe Summer is the Norm

Maybe school is a horrible place for children to find nourishment of any kind. Maybe we should wonder why children are so hungry for sunshine, play, FOOD, and fun when they are not compelled to be in a government building all day and only permitted to nourish themselves at prescribed times.

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365 Devotionals: Humble Surrender

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8 ESV

Humility means surrending the ego. You must choose what to surrender it to. God represents the highest ideal I can imagine, a good home for my ego when I can release it.

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Five Years On Stage

Westen’s first speaking role was as a messenger in Macbeth. Although only a few lines, he had to deliver them alone and in front of the curtain during a scene change.

He was so comfortable and there was no doubt that there would be more plays in his future.

He seems most suited for villians and comics on stage, but his recent passion for behind-the-scenes work has him student directing a production of Much Ado About Nothing this summer.

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School’s Out Forever

Can you define what a “day” of public education is? In Delaware, the government does not define it, so homeschoolers and public school officials all pretend attendance means something. We all know kids and teachers are all screwing off with half days and bullshit time fillers during the final weeks of the school year, but these 5-10 days count toward the 180? The system has a thin facade of competency.

I don’t school my children at all (excepting when I slip into the old trauma patterns I learned in school).

We live with the seasons. We learn as the sun comes up and goes down. We learn as we live. We do not live in a cinderblock building. We live in the loving spaces of God’s Creation and try to create more love in the world as we engage it with enthusiasm and curiosity.

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A Widower’s Words

Language is one of the strangest things about widowhood. The marriage is legally disolved, is her family still my “in-laws”? No one posseses the children in my charge, but they are “ours.” The decisions my wife and I made for our family are relevant today, so I often say “my wife and I” in present terms. Yet, I have a loving girlfriend…try dropping those relationship terms without context.

You get used to the weirdness, but it is unusual to be a widowed parent of minors, it will always be weird.

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Uncomfortable Unknowables

Four (or more) witnesses, all aged 13 or under, from three (or more) families were enjoying their free-range privileges far from parental eyes when things got out of hand.

My elder son and his rowdy buddy found a frog. It was alive and then it was dead. That’s where agreement seemed to end as I texted with the other parents hours later.

My patience is most pressed when I am lied to. My son was not forthcoming with the truth and I could only walk away from him to check back with the other parents for more pieces of the story.

A short lecture on respecting all life and the danger and hurtfulness of deceit was the consequence.

I can’t know what happened in the woods. Those who made bad decisions will be judged by their peers and God, I don’t see much of a role for myself. It’s the kind of uncomfortable relinquishing of control that defines free range parenting. As Bridget Phetasy says in her interview with Lenore Skenazy, “That’s kid stuff, don’t bother the adults with it.”