August 2013 – Page 4 – 300 words a day

Changing perspectives.

I was telling a couple people that I’m grateful several noted writers have fundamentally changed the quality of their work during the past couple of years. I had read their works in the past, but hadn’t been taken by them. Somehow, their writing didn’t work. You may know of some of them. Jim Collins. Bill […]

by Jon Swanson

Grabill Carnival

First published August 31, 2012. We did this again last night. Every year our church has a community carnival. We spend money. We charge nothing. We have the big slidy things and free hotdogs and a dunk tank and games and facepainting and snow cones and popcorn. We don’t take names. We completely waste the […]

by Jon Swanson

Washing windows on retreat.

The retreat center is a house. Some part of it is 150 years old or more, since Kies’ have been on this land for 175 years. A few years ago, the whole house was remodeled. New windows, new cabinets, new drywall, new carpet, new paint. It’s not quite an Ezekiel house, the bones were all […]

by Jon Swanson

Examining examen, part two

Back to examen. Next, Barton says, look back through the day for evidence of God’s presence. In my rush to the next conversation or agenda item or project, I forget what happens in my day. And I’ve struggled with examen for this reason. I’m afraid to go back and look. But on this night, as […]

by Jon Swanson

Examining examen, part one

At the beginning of my retreat time, I sat on the sofa where I was going to sleep, needing to find the starting point. A race starts with a pistol, but a retreat is an unrace, an anti-race. Starting with slowing, with soul-searching makes sense. Perhaps the best tool that process at the end of […]