You could say that I’m an above-average social studies student. I finished my college civics courses while I was still in high school. As a high school senior, I made it to the state finals of the American Legion Citizenship Bee. You’ll still find a “Social Studies Student of the Year” plaque with my name on it in the trophy case at Ashland High School in Ashland, Ohio.

I’ve followed civics, current events, history, legal issues, and politics even closer in adulthood than I did in high school. I not only vote in every election, I spend months or even years carefully studying candidates and issues so I’m confident that I’m making the best decision when I fill out my ballot. Over the course of 20 years, I’ve voted for both Democrats and Republicans in local, state, and national elections.

Participating in civics for all these years built up a good amount of perspective and changed the...

Avoiding politics amounts to mission failure for the church of Christ in the United States.

We (organized Christians) don’t really avoid politics. One segment of the Christian church aligns itself with one political faction. One segment aligns itself with another. One segment avoids politics altogether. All of them are passive aggressive about it because they: a) Don’t want to run afoul of the Internal Revenue Service, and b) Don’t want to run afoul of the people who put money in the collection plates each Sunday.

I’m tired of this passive aggression and not because I wish the church would pick a side. In fact, nothing could be more out of line with the church’s very reason for existence than to take a side in politics.

And what is that reason for existence that defines and drives the church of Christ? It is the very thing our country needs from us now. It is the very thing I’m...

When I get up at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 9, I’ll do my morning journaling and writing. I’ll make breakfast for Daniel (Waffle Wednesday!) and get us both ready for the day. We’ll make the 30-minute commute to Daniel’s preschool. After I hug and kiss my boy goodbye, I’ll pick up a coffee and head to the office. There, I’ll fill a page with a list of things for which I’m thankful that day. I’ll jot down a few prayer petitions for people in my life. I’ll hand write five thank-you notes to people who have done something generous or kind for me.

Then I’ll get to work. On November 9, I’ll be putting the finishing touches on the Lake Norcentra Park project for Rochester College in 2016. We’re getting ready to start painting an 1800-square foot mural with volunteers from the community. Christine Gibson, a children’s book illustrator, designed the mural that won a public contest that...

When I get up at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 9, I’ll do my morning journaling and writing. I’ll make breakfast for Daniel (Waffle Wednesday!) and get us both ready for the day. We’ll make the 30-minute commute to Daniel’s preschool. After I hug and kiss my boy goodbye, I’ll pick up a coffee and head to the office. There, I’ll fill a page with a list of things for which I’m thankful that day. I’ll jot down a few prayer petitions for people in my life. I’ll hand write five thank-you notes to people who have done something generous or kind for me.

Then I’ll get to work. On November 9, I’ll be putting the finishing touches on the Lake Norcentra Park project for Rochester College in 2016. We’re getting ready to start painting an 1800-square foot mural with volunteers from the community. Christine Gibson, a children’s book illustrator, designed the mural that won a public contest that...

Sometimes, I don’t feel the feeling of love.

Sometimes, I feel angry, confused, or hurt.

Sometimes, my body language, my eyes, and my tone of voice belie whatever comes out of my mouth. The spoken language of love is discordant when unspoken language is in a minor key.

So there is only one thing to do when you cannot speak love: Act love instead.

Do what you cannot bring yourself to say.

When sentiment fails, serve instead.

Nothing revives the sentiments of love better and faster than the actions of love. The truth is, love is not love if it’s feeling only. Love is true when love is doing things. Love does not depend on sentiment because service does not depend on sentiment. You choose love when you choose to serve.

Don’t let bad feelings or no feelings be an excuse; choose to love. Just do it.

Please, let’s not allow ourselves to become pessimistic about our election on November 8.

Disappointment, disillusionment, or displeasure are acceptable as long as their expression is civil, mature, and serves the common good. After all, free expression can be very good for our republic and for our souls.

Pessimism, however, is completely inappropriate and out of place. Yes, feel free to express pessimism if that is what you feel. However, ask yourself: Is pessimism the rational choice? And, yes, whatever you feel is your choice. Does pessimism serve you well? Does pessimism serve your fellow citizens?

I’ve listened to everyone from comedians to news commentators to even my own pastor make fun of this election. Some fun is worth making, either because it lightens the mood or it reveals the truth through satire. Yes, humor can inform and uplift society in a contentious election cycle...

What is the message at the heart of Christian faith?

You can put it a lot of different ways.

Here’s one that resonates with me these days: Abundant life is neither bought nor earned; it is freely given and freely received.

This is backwards and upside down if you have any common sense.

Because common sense says you work like hell and worry like crazy and then, maybe, you save up enough money to to take a break once in a while. Common sense says abundance life is something you buy for a couple of weeks a year or on a weekend. You need money and status to afford abundance life. And money and status take a lot of striving and worry.

The problem with common sense is that money runs out. Status is fragile. You’re a hamster on a wheel until one day your heart gives out and you die.

Yes, abundant life as we know it in our culture is expensive and exhausting. It will cost you your...

You need to vote for you on November 8.

The president who matters most to you and your family and neighbors is the president who presides over your life: You.

It’s not the end of the world–it’s really not–if the person you don’t want in the White House gets there anyway. Will he or she affect the country and the world? Yes. Will he or she affect your life? Yes.

Recognize, however, that the person who will affect you and your world most is looking back at your in the mirror.

You pick your own cabinet. You set your own agenda. You make your own policies. And these choices you make will affect your block, your family, your house of worship, your school, your town a hundred times more than the choices someone makes in Washington, D.C.

By now, I’m sure you already know the candidate you will choose for President of the United States.

But ask yourself this today: Would you vote for...

Yesterday marked eight years of marriage for Tracy and me.

Boy, has this turned out nothing like I thought it would!

When I was a teenager and twenty-something, I had a picture of what my wife would be. I had a script for how marriage would be.

The gift of eight years of real marriage to a real woman is this: I can clearly see that my illusions of marriage and a marriage partner were selfish. They were all about me. More specifically, they were all about how awesome I would be as a husband and how grateful and lucky my wife would feel to be with me.

I gave myself to a real marriage with a real woman and it revealed things about me that my twenty-something self worked so hard to deny or excuse.

It turns out, I’m not so great after all. Back when I wanted to get married, I wanted to get married for me. Then I got married and I found out that marriage is not for me; it’s for her...

Life is not in the accomplishing; it’s in the trying.

Standing on the summit only reveals another summit off in the distance. Another valley to cross. Another mountain to climb. Another peak to reach.

The truth is: We live 99 percent of our lives everywhere but the summit. We live most of our lives climbing the slopes or wandering in the valleys.

Is it wisdom, then, to make our happiness and peace conditional on standing on the summit? It is wisdom to ever say: “I will be happy when…?”

Indeed, the joy and rest at the summit is only joyful and restful because of the labor and struggle of the slopes and valleys.

No slopes, no valleys, no mountaintop experience.

Those peak moments are a blessing when they happen.

But we don’t live life on the peak.

We live life in the slopes and valleys.

Life is not in the accomplishing; it’s in the trying.

“I am happy and at peace here...