David Brooks has yet another insightful piece in the New York Times. He argues that to the extent that ever-rising health care costs are a major reason for the U.S. federal deficit, the stalled debate in Washington about the debt ceiling is actually the result of cultural assumptions ...

To conclude some of the thoughts I've shared about prayer this week, I want to offer the suggestion of using prayer cards. For a fuller explanation, go to Paul Miller's A Praying Life, but the basic idea is to think of people or recurring ideas in your life that you'd like to ...

Our children are always surprising me. There's William making "art" in the front yard out of a plastic lawnmower, red cones, and a host of tennis balls. Or Penny's determination in the swimming pool. Marilee's recent willingness to inhale large amounts of prunes.

So the other ...

Prayer is exciting. Prayer is tough (at least for me). But as I mentioned in yesterday's post, honesty with God matter more than getting it right when we pray. We can bring our doubts, fears, shame, guilt, anger, sorrow, joy–we can bring our real selves–to God in prayer.

Penny ...

Sometimes I forget that most of the world isn't attuned to issues related to Down syndrome and intellectual disability. I also get tired when I read one more headline about people in positions of power mocking people who have historically been scorned and abused. So when I read ...

I wrote yesterday about the excitement of prayer. And much as I believe that prayer is everything I said–an ongoing opportunity to know God, a chance to see God's work in the world, and a source of gratitude–I still have a hard time praying. Why?

First, there's the distraction ...

I recently read and reviewed Jenell Paris' book, The End of Sexual Identity: Why Sex is Too Important to Define Who We Are for her.meneutics, the Christianity Today women's blog. I've quoted from and linked to the review below, and I hope you'll take the time to read it and ...