March 2014 – Page 3 – 300 words a day

I love the routine.

I don’t think of Lent as a time to form habits. I think of it as a time to give up. But embracing something new always has in it surrender. And surrender always has offers something new. So what if I approached Lent as a time of testing. Not being tested as much as testing […]

by Jon Swanson

Planning for leftovers.

A person has some loaves of bread. A teacher says to hand them out to a crowd. A follower says that there is now way there will be enough food for everyone. The teacher says to pass out the bread. Everyone is fed. There are leftovers. That’s a story that sound familiar to many people. They start to fill […]

by Jon Swanson

They did not know what he was talking about.

Sometimes I want to know what’s going to happen next. I worry about it. I identify options. I want God to simplify things and just tell me his plans and how they fit with mine. The twelve disciples may have thought the same things one day as they traveled with Jesus. They thought, perhaps, that […]

by Jon Swanson

13 ways to be more like Jesus

Learn what he said. It seems obvious, but I need to say it. Do the things he said to do. Like any good teacher, the learning often happens by practicing, not just listening. Too often we expect perfection. Perhaps he didn’t. At first. Do things the way he did them. How did he live his […]

by Jon Swanson

Like acid in a cut.

We’re struggling with some serious illness in our extended family. Hope was talking about it with a friend the other day. “It will be okay,” he said. “No it won’t,” she said. People will die. In the process they will hurt. Their minds will not work right. And other people will get hurt. That’s why I […]