Category: encouragement

  • The Triple-A Approach to Helping Someone in Need

    The Triple-A Approach to Helping Someone in Need

    After I left full-time ministry, but before I became a teacher, I spent three years in sales with Frito Lay, Inc. I was a Route Sales Rep, which is a front-line position selling salty snacks to grocery and convenience stores. One day, my boss was helping me set up a huge display of potato chips…

  • Building Legacies Through Kindness and Faith

    Building Legacies Through Kindness and Faith

    This year when I reported back to work as an elementary assistant principal, I noticed some new faces. As I introduced myself to an assistant principal who looked older than me, and I’m a middle-aged guy, I assumed she was someone who retired, and then was rehired. When I told her my name and asked…

  • Finding Meaning in an Open Closet Door

    Finding Meaning in an Open Closet Door

    It started simply enough. Shortly after we remodeled our home, I found a closet door open in the back hallway. “I must have forgotten to close it after I was in there last night,” I convinced myself. But it kept happening. “Sweetheart, were you in the back hallway closet yesterday? I noticed it was left…

  • Finding Light in Darkness: A Personal Reflection

    Finding Light in Darkness: A Personal Reflection

    Just off the lobby of the theatre where I attended university, there’s a spacious dance studio. I was there for a concert the other day and noticed the door was propped open. Feeling nostalgic, I walked over to investigate the mirrored room where I’d spent some time as an undergrad. But the lights were turned…

  • Lessons from Dead Flowers and a Squeaky Door

    Lessons from Dead Flowers and a Squeaky Door

    The PR person from a local bank contacted me, wanting to buy fifteen cases of single-serve potato chips for a community barbeque. “Yes, I can fill the order,” I said, as a proud route sales rep with Frito Lay, Inc. The next day the manager of the bank called, saying she found the product at…

  • Sweet Counsel to the Soul

    Sweet Counsel to the Soul

    Oil and perfume make the heart glad, so a man’s counsel is sweet to his friend. Proverbs 27:9 NASB The email came, just before the first weekend of October. Rainer Bantau, a fellow Christian blogger, was coming to Oklahoma City for a conference. Would I like to get together for coffee? “The Devotional Guy wants…