January 2014 – 300 words a day

Not Peter’s life. Not John’s life. Yours.

(The last in a series on choosing to learn. First published January 16, 2013) Jesus and Peter had just finished breakfast. Grilled fish and toast. There’s no textual evidence of coffee. (The story’s in John 21.) It was a somewhat awkward conversation. Jesus gave Peter three opportunities to affirm their relationship. It was probably to […]

by Jon Swanson

Experimental love

(Part of a series on choosing to learn. First published August 14, 2013) Jesus said it was the greatest commandment: “Love God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength.” But what counts? Does taking care of your aging parents count? Does secretly paying for the meal […]

by Jon Swanson

You can keep going.

(This is part of a series on making choices about learning. It was first published February 20, 2013) Many of my friends are making changes in their lives right now. That might include you. The change may have started because of Lent or wanting to learn a new routine, or may be the remnants of a New Year’s […]

by Jon Swanson

Going for two in a row.

(Part of a series this week on choosing to learn. First published April 3, 2013) As we make changes in our lives, we need to relax into the routines. We need to learn to take our actions from “days in a row” to “weeks in a row” to “months in a row” to “seasons in […]

by Jon Swanson

Not afraid to depend on God.

(This week I’m running a series of posts from the past talking about making choices to learn. This one was first published April 9, 2013) A friend wrote me an email about a teaching project she’s working on. “A number of times,” she said, “you have written about ‘who do you want to be’ vs. […]