character – Page 11 – 300 words a day

Unless I am wrong

I am acutely aware of expectations, even those that do not exist. I have lived much of my life as a pleaser. To avoid conflict, I have appeased, placated, avoided and feared. And I am increasingly aware of the dangers of living according to the standards and expectations and boundaries of others. “How we used […]

by Jon Swanson

Going to Kansas

Although I talk all the time, I’m not a conference speaker. I don’t fit well with church events and not many non-church events invite pastors to the platform. However, if you’ve been around here during the last year, you know that I’ve had the opportunity to speak at a couple of conferences. Last October, I […]

by Jon Swanson

I was not expecting that.

(A guest post from Hope Swanson, first published here on April 6, 2011. It was originally published by Hope on February 8, 2011) Tonight in Lifespan Development, Ted showed us a video that honored the life of Eliot Mooney. Eliot’s parents found out that he had Trisomy 18. Nine seconds into this video, I knew that I was […]

by Jon Swanson

Reflections on love. and Jesus.

Jesus was summarizing simply the law. “Love God,” he said. “Love your neighbor.” “Who do we have to love?” was the follow up. “Who counts as my neighbor?” That’s the story of the good Samaritan. If you walk by someone in serious trouble, and you can help, and you don’t on account of being too focused […]

by Jon Swanson

all the answers

I started the day trying to figure out why a computer wasn’t connecting to the Internet. I powered a couple things off and back on. I took a different computer and connected it directly to the modem. I was working to identify what the problem wasn’t so I could figure out what it was. One […]