I was writing a blog post this morning and needed to look up the definition of “civic.”

I look up words all the time by typing them into the search bar. Google gives me the definition–and an entire page of other dictionary sources–and I go about writing.

When I typed “civic” into the search bar today, I had to go halfway down the second page of search results to find the definition I sought. The first page and a half were advertisements for the Honda Civic.

My first brand new car was a Honda Civic. I loved that car and drove it for almost ten years.

What does it say, however, about our society when we think of “civic” as something we buy and sell? Something we consume and discard?

The definition of “civic,” according to Merriam-Webster, is: “…of or relating to a citizen, a city, citizenship, or community affairs.” We say a “civic-minded” person cares about what is happening in...

If we’re fair-minded, level-headed people (like we claim), let’s make a pact: We need to ignore “tabloid stuff.”

Madonna’s speech at the WomensMarch was Exhibit ‘A’ for a lot of people making a case against the protest. I agree with them. The celebrities who “made appearances” at the march were gratuitous. It doesn’t help when I’m trying to convince a friend of mine that the march is for women’s dignity and he sends me six photos of Miley Cyrus doing what Miley Cyrus does.

Please ignore celebrities. They don’t represent us. Let’s focus on each other.

Barron Trump is off limits. Any kid is off limits. If you take to the media to make fun of a ten-year old, you deserve to be grounded. You don’t speak for me or most of us who are parents. Besides, Barron Trump is not the point. What his father is doing is the point.

On that matter, the relationship between Donald and Melania Trump is...

Yesterday, my wife and I had our 1,328th “discussion” (argument) about “communication” (how we each feel the other is failing at it).

If you’re in a longterm relationship like a marriage, you likely know this exact “discussion” yourself.

My wife looked at me and said: “I’m tired of having this same argument over and over again!”

I looked back at her and said: “So am I!”

Our son came into the room. We both looked at him. We both knew that we would have this discussion again…and again… and again. As many times as it takes to finally get it right.

Why?

Our family is worth trying as many times as it takes.

Love is for the weary.

I’m thinking about training for a half-marathon this year. I trained for one three years ago.

When I started the training program, I hadn’t run more than a mile in almost ten years. I never liked running. I was never good at it. But something made me...

We all agree on one thing: We are a nation deeply divided.

I think most of us agree that being divided is bad thing, a harmful thing.

Most of us agree that being united is better.

So we agree on three very big things. We can build on that.

How?

Reconciliation and unity will not come from Washington, D.C. We all know that it’s not possible for the federal government to make us all get along. Besides, we all know that conflict is a big moneymaker for politicians. What incentive do they have to stop sowing conflict?

Reconciliation and unity will not come from the media. We all know that conflict is a big moneymaker for the media. What incentive does the media have to stop reporting conflict?

Reconciliation and unity will not come from the corporations. The bottom line is the bottom line. Vision sees only as far as the next quarterly earnings report. Corporations do whatever...

Donald Trump is my President today.

He is not my leader.

Trump rose to power by dividing and conquering and by inciting and promoting anger and fear. He appealed to the worst in us, not the best.

He will remain in power by doing more of the same..and much worse.

Things are going to go wrong for Donald Trump, which means things are going to go wrong for the United States and the free world.

And when they go wrong, Donald Trump and his co-conspirators will look for someone to blame. They will blame blacks. They will blame gays. They will blame liberals. They will blame Muslims. They will blame the poor. They will blame the press. They will blame women. They will blame anyone who stirs up the most paranoia and rage in the public.

They will do more than blame. They will frame. They will slander and smear. They will whip up a mob of angry and frightened “insiders” and tell them the...

Two random, unrelated thoughts about stormy winds:

Random thought 1:

During the race to invent flying machines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the conventional wisdom was that wind was bad. Aspiring pilots waited for perfect calm to attempt their flights. All of them failed.

The Wright brothers were the butt of many jokes because they believed wind was good for flight. The very reason they tested their first airplane at Kitty Hawk was to take advantage of the constant, stiff winds.

The Wrights believed: The windier the better.

The Wright brothers were right.

Random thought 2:

A song we sing at church has this line:

“When the oceans rise and thunders roar/I will soar with you above the storm.”

No worse lyric was ever written for Christians to sing. It’s blather.

Since when does anyone who wants to follow God “soar…above the storm?”

As I recall from my Bible...

The power of the one who presides.

The power of the one in the position of authority.

The power of the one in the position to decide, to determine, to direct.

The power of the one in the position to decide, to determine, to direct. In what matters?

What matters…to you?

Do you decide, determine, and direct what matters to you?

Then you must be in the position to do so.

The position of authority over what matters to you.

The power to preside over what matters.

Presidential power.

You have it from God from birth.

Don’t forget.

Don’t forget to use it.

Every week, I take my four-year old son, Daniel, to his favorite place on earth: A big, indoor playground.

He jumps right in with the other kids. Meanwhile, I look up every 30 seconds from my book to make sure he’s having fun and staying safe.

It’s a big place. In fact, that’s what Daniel calls it: “The Big Place.”

It’s also a noisy place. Imagine a few dozen kids screaming and shouting.

This week, as I was reading my book, I heard the faint sound of a familiar voice: “Daddy! Daddy!”

I quickly looked up, scanned the room, and spotted Daniel in one of the clear, plastic bubbles that perches high atop the play structure. He was smiling and waving at me.

I smiled and waved back.

Then he yelled just loud enough that I could hear it through the plastic bubble: “I love you, Daddy!”

Lightning bolt through the heart.

I wouldn’t take being on the cover of magazines, a billion...

The point here is not really that Russia may be trying to interfere or even manipulate our government at the highest levels.

Pretend you’re an enemy looking for America’s weakness to exploit.

I believe our greatest weakness now is disinterest, distrust, and disunity.

Disinterest takes most of what is “normal” for granted. It is both overly optimistic (“it will all work out”) and overly pessimistic (“I can’t do anything about it anyway”) at the same time.

Distrust is what we shoot off in every direction without bothering to aim. We distrust the government. We distrust the media. We distrust each other. Most of the time, we make up ten reasons to every one that is factual.

Disunity is what comes from disinterest and distrust. If Putin (or any foreign power) is attempting to exploit any weakness, it is this one.

What is the solution?

Reversing disinterest. It is a proactive...

I didn’t watch the Golden Globes, but I followed along by reading commentary on Twitter.

Meryl Streep gave an award acceptance speech that was nothing if not political. Social media lit up immediately.

Here’s the speech in full.

The sound bite that most people heard or will read today is this one: “When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.”

In the diversity of my Twitter stream, most people responded favorably.

A few, however, were upset. One, in particular, felt it was a great insult that Hollywood would dare lecture the rest of us on matters of morality.

As I read this public defender of Christian values comment on who can and cannot speak up for what is good and right, a line from the Bible flashed across my mind:

“The rocks will cry out.”

You can find these words of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Luke 19.40. In the story, Jesus is entering...