following – Page 8 – 300 words a day

What is that to you?

Jesus and Peter had just finished breakfast. Grilled fish and toast. There’s no textual evidence of coffee. (The story’s in John 21.) It was a somewhat awkward conversation. Jesus gave Peter three opportunities to affirm their relationship. It was probably to undo the three times Peter denied the relationship. Nothing specific was said about that […]

by Jon Swanson

Every Monday

It happens every Monday morning. Every Monday is a restart of our pilgrimage. Every Monday we say, “I want this week to be different. I want to be more committed, more caring, more thoughtful, more loving, more focused, more significant, more successful.” And then we open our eyes. And shuffle to the mirror. And the words […]

by Jon Swanson

The twelve

When we look at the original group of twelve disciples, and then when we look at the eventual replacement for Judas (Paul), we find that they all have a clearly identified tap on the shoulder. In some cases, we have stories of an individual calling as well as the twelve, as a group, being publicly picked, being clearly […]

by Jon Swanson

Being a servant means lots of standing still

People talk about serving God. They talk about wanting to serve God. We spend a lot of time and words doing things that we think are a service to God. As I was talking to some friends about learning how each of us is best made to serve God, I started thinking less about serving […]

by Jon Swanson

I’m gradually learning that Snickers doesn’t satisfy.

I used to argue strongly on behalf of Snickers as a healthy snack. After all, it has peanuts. That makes it healthier than other candy bars like 3 Musketeers that are just fluff. I was helped in the argument by an ad campaign which affirmed that if you were looking for satisfaction, Snickers was the […]