Living in light of eternity

Johnny could hardly believe it- he was finally in High School. All through his long career in Junior High, he had dreamt of going to South High- the big hallways, the spacious lockers, and the new pride of being one of the “Mustangs”. He’d always thought it would be so cool to be a “High School Student”…But now it was his first day, and as he walked up those stone steps and entered the giant doorway he had to admit, he was a bit scared... And he should be! South High, like many schools had a “caste system”. The first thing Johnny noticed was how much smaller he was than most of the guys- and a lot of the girls too. I guess they were right when they said he hadn ’t experienced his “growth spurt” yet. Most things went along pretty well that first day except two- navigating the halls, and lunchtime. Johnny never could have guessed how much the freshmen could get pushed around trying to get into their lockers. And he found a group of older guys that you just had to steer clear of. He calle...

My wife and I learned something very early about our youngest. If we didn't keep him busy, we were in trouble. Drew was blessed with an extra dose of energy, initiative, and drive. Great if you are an entrepreneur, not so great in a young boy soon to be a man- full of testosterone and spit. When he was in sports, everything was fine. When the season was over, we found ourselves driving all around town to malls and sports shops to buy action figures, basketball cards, or whatever the next hobby or craze demanded. Actually this was true for both of our boys. We devised a very simple plan-- keep them in sports. As many sports as they could stand-- and it worked. By the time they got home from practice they was too tired for anything except studying, snacks, and bed. The beautiful thing about youth sports was that they were such a constructive way to siphon off all that extra energy. Energy that could have been misspent left un-channeled. Nothing good comes from boredom. It'...

My Father has the most interesting skill of saying things in a way you will remember. For most of our adult life, my wife Nona and I have lived far away from our parents. This meant that when we did get together, every moment counted. There would be great times of intense dialogue. Dad would often watch, listen, then make his point- with a zinger. As the children grew, they really grew- especially the boys. Kelli was a normal, cute, little blondie. Mark and Drew must have gotten all my large genes- there were none left for me. As they grew, Dad came up with one of his home-spun proverbs: "Big Dogs Need Hugs Too" Here's what I think he was getting at-- small puppies are cute and easy to love on. As they get older and bigger it's easy to forget their need for physical affection and affirmation, especially as they get much larger than you. Nancy Devlin, Ph.D., a practicing child psychologist, put it this way. "It is unwise to assume that children are secure i...

Spring of my son's senior year in high school a very strange and shocking thing happened. On April 20, 1999 Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 13 people at Columbine High School before taking their own lives. I was glued to the set that day- in disbelief. But someone in my household took it harder than me- my son Mark. Maybe because he was the same age as Klebold and Harris, or maybe because he could picture it happening in his own high school. I don't know, exactly. The media almost immediately turned to the question of what type of environment existed at Columbine and speculation about the Trench Coat Mafia's claims that they were harassed by the athletes dissolved into questions about their families. “Dylan ( Klebold ) did not do this because of the way he was raised,” Susan Klebold told columnist David Brooks in Saturday’s editions of The New York Times. “He did it in contradiction to the way he was raised.” As the weeks passed, my son and I had further discu...

Psychology Today had an interesting analysis of modern society back in the 70's in an article called "The Harsh Cruel World of the Affluent Society". It sketched out the realities forming in an increasingly isolated and impersonal suburban life in America. Boy have these observations come true! There was a day when everyone thought they could flee to the suburbs for "the good life". That turned out to be an empty pursuit. The greatest evidence of this emptiness was seen in the lives of young people. Suicide becoming the 2 nd highest killer of teens in those years. Now there is increasing talk of "community centers" forming in the suburbs- like in Southlake , recently listed as the number one highest per family income in America in 2008. Wonder if it's working. Mark Driscoll recently commented on this trend in his book “ The Radical Reformission ” "People are increasingly busy, isolated, lonely, disconnected, and without any helpful...