September 2011 – Page 2 – 300 words a day

while i’m away.

I was speaking at a conference about what I do. I said that my passion is helping people emotionally understand the truth of God’s work. I decided to see whether I could illustrate what I meant. So I said, Some of you are bosses. Some are parents. Some are spouses or coworkers. Many of you, […]

by Jon Swanson

The river twists.

I looked out the plane window, somewhere over Illinois I think. There was a river below us, or a creek. It certainly wasn’t a canal. It was snaky, curled, switchbacks of water. There were roads in view, a clean grid. And square fields. and rows. But there was a river wandering through, forcing the edges […]

by Jon Swanson

still needing to learn about the tyranny of the distracting.

(This repost is from April 12, 2011) My friend Richard and I were talking about our lives. We were talking about being better stewards of our time and our attention. You know the conversation. You’ve had it too. He said, “It’s not so much the tyranny of the urgent. It’s the tyranny of the distracting.” […]

by Jon Swanson

Sometimes

Sometimes you have a lot of conversations and too many preparations and a late night meeting and an early flight. Sometimes it’s not about procrastination. Sometimes you say, “I know it’s not 300 words but I have to go to bed.” And God says, “Good night, child. Sleep well.”

by Jon Swanson

I pushed the button

Saturday morning, I pushed the button on our modem. The house was plunged into a state of Internet disconnect. It remained that way for five hours. With the exception of power failures, that’s the longest single stretch the interior of our house has been protected from Internet rays for years. Or, it’s the longest single […]