December 2011 – 300 words a day

ending a year.

Hope and Nancy and I are on a road trip. Just a short trip to the Chicago area to see my sisters and my mom and Andrew and Allie. We’ve been talking about a lot on the road and sitting around tables. Food, family history (old and new), sleep, plans, vacations. And we’ve been talking […]

by Jon Swanson

It’s not about guilt. It’s about compassion.

I’ve written before about child trafficking. (There’s a list at the bottom of this post). But apparently, it hasn’t gone away. Human beings are still buying and selling other human beings. During the last month, when you and I were buying gifts for other people, traffickers were buying girls for other people. My friend Diana […]

by Jon Swanson

A disciple, simply

Okay. Can we talk for a bit? I’m out of practice with writing, so it will take me awhile to find my flow again. But I’m working on a sermon for Sunday and I’m sifting through my heart and brain (and all the tons of debris that live there), gathering fragments for a simple, useful, helpful, […]

by Jon Swanson

living between ‘I will’ and ‘I have’

We struggle with goals. We read that telling people your goals is dangerous. It can give you the buzz of affirmation without having to do the hard work. Having goals is fine. But keep them to yourself. But this isn’t a story about goals. This is about a walk captured in the Bible, but never […]

by Jon Swanson

Reflecting toward a new year.

I understand the desire to have more followers. But I think a better desire is to have more that is worth following. Or perhaps it can be a commitment than more than a desire. A commitment to deepen. A commitment to learn. A commitment to do what has been learned. A shift from “I don’t […]