Stepping up our Game

No one doubts that today’s word changes fast.  We know, for instance, that there will be a new upgrade on the iphone, or any other gadget for that matter, available by the time we bring home what we thought to be the latest version.  We can get information faster than we ever have before.  But [...]

The Wedding Paradox

“How much does this cost?” I asked as we stood waiting for the cashier to find Josh’s file in the tuxedo rental store. “Too much,” Josh replied. He went into the fitting room, which is the point where I wished I had brought a book. The shop was quite large and full [...]

For the Love of Set!

We all have our nerdy pleasures. My brother, for instance, is the total man’s man—confident, athletic, good looking, by no means a typical nerd—but even he gets tickled reading his HTML manual and perturbed by the use of redundant acronyms like ATM machine. I, for one, get really animated about philosophies of metaphysics. [...]

Inspiration in Stone

I had the occasion to go to Washington DC this past weekend. I hadn’t been there in years, so I was really excited to go exploring. Most of all I wanted to have a Mr. Smith moment at the Lincoln Memorial.
For those of you who don’t know, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is, [...]

Mountain-top Eavesdropping

A few days ago I hiked to the top of Bear Mountain. Not a major feat, as it is only about a mile and a half ascent, but it was one of the top-ten days of the year, as my dad likes to say, so a nice little day hike was certainly called for. [...]

America the Beautiful

Today in church we sang America the Beautiful to open up the service. At first, I thought it was a little inappropriate if not a little bit cheesy. I love the Fourth of July, but I went to church for a spiritual message, not superficially patriotic plug. I quickly realized this was [...]

Where I Live

Some high school friends and I bonded the other day when we realized we all have the same reaction to cower and hide when we saw someone we recognized in town. Even if we liked the person growing up, those questions all pointing towards “What are you doing with your life?” will inevitably emerge [...]

1-888-WeJoust

I had never been to Medieval Times. I told Josh I had been to the Renaissance Faire a couple times, to which he responded, “Oh, this is so much more.” If you say so…
For those of you unfamiliar with Medieval Times, it is basically a Renaissance-themed dinner theater. There are chicken dinners, [...]

The Travel Bug

My dad and I have a running joke that he infected me with the Travel Bug…an extremely contagious and chronic syndrome  characterized by an infernal itch to see more of the world and its people.  You know you have the Travel Bug if you satisfy the following criteria:
1) You see a picture of a waterfall [...]

On the Creation of Worlds

When we read stories of far away lands like Middle Earth or Narnia I hope that we never take for granted the minds from which these worlds came. Even when we see the worlds in movie form, I hope that we always take a moment to appreciate the creativity, ingenuity, risk and time put [...]