Recently, I began leading two different men’s groups I’m simply calling D Group 1 and D Group 2. The first includes four guys who are a bit older than I am, and the second includes a twenty-something and a teenager. We just started Francis Chan’s Multiply, a fantastic study on becoming and making disciples—which is… Continue reading My Hang Up with "the Lord"
When I was learning to play tennis as a young teenager, I used what most of us did back then, an aluminum racket. These were quite a bit heavier than the various ones you can get rather inexpensively today, like the graphite rackets I bought for our girls. I play with a much better material these days when I do get out to the courts, one I couldn’t have been trusted with in my early days.
When I was a kid my older brothers unrelentingly teased me. Today I don’t remember what they teased me about. I was a pretty normal kid. Maybe a little wimpy, but I couldn’t say I made a natural target for teasing, except that I was the youngest. I would retaliate by tattling about anything and everything. When I would complain about my brothers’ teasing, my mother’s reply was always the same, “Just ignore them.”
When our girls were much younger, we were grateful to be far from our hometown, if anything to be away from some of the negative influences at home, the ones I grew up with. My dad liked to tease, though he did so not maliciously. It was just his way.
A repeated theme in Proverbs is the personification of wisdom, how she calls out inviting the simple into understanding. We live in the information age, yet for many, wisdom is elusive. With the Internet, there are boundless opportunities for learning, but there is also the proliferation of inaccuracy. Wisdom still calls.
In high school I had a serious girlfriend for about two years. As serious as a relationship can get in high school, I suppose. By the way, this relationship is one among myriad reasons for not allowing our girls to date until after high school.
During the weekend we had opportunities for moderately safe adventures, including hiking and repelling. Some men went fly flishing too, though I’m not sure there’s much danger in that. There would have been if I’d gone along.
