character – Page 3 – 300 words a day

An amazing teacher.

I’m hardly ever surprised anymore. It’s not that I’ve seen it all. There’s a lot of “it” that I haven’t seen, that I’d rather not see. But I have seen enough to not be much surprised by gullibility and compassionlessness and betrayal and failure and fear. So when Mark tells us that people were amazed […]

by Jon Swanson

You could have a good day.

Some of my friends work with people who don’t have many days of breathing left. They sometimes ask a simple question: “What would be a good day for you?” For someone who has machines and drugs and pain and a failing body, it’s a way to find the things that matter. “A good day is […]

by Jon Swanson

Pouring a heart before God.

It’s about 1100 BC, give or take a few decades. In Greece, it is a time between civilizations. In China, the Shang dynasty is ending, the first of the Chinese civilizations. Rome doesn’t exist yet, as a civilization that we know. And in Israel, there is a woman named Hannah who wants a son. Her […]

by Jon Swanson

Words create cultures and that matters.

My degrees are all in communication. More accurately, in rhetoric, which considers how persuasion works. That training, and that kind of reflection, can get me in trouble. For example, the college where I worked had a groundbreaking ceremony for a new building. After the ceremony, there was a meal. Nancy and I were standing in […]

by Jon Swanson

What do you want to be true of you in five years?

(I first published this on June 24, 2010. Did any of you take my advice then? What if we started now?) “What do you want to be true of you as a leader in five years? What do you want your wife to say about you as a church leader? What do you want your […]