Skip to content ↓

An Update, a Journey, and a Vacation

Update Vacation

I have just returned home from Louisville, Kentucky after dropping off my son for his freshman year at Boyce College. He is our eldest child, so the first to head to college. I’m sure someone tried to tell us just how hard it would be to drive away and leave him there, but wow, we still weren’t expecting that. We are confident he’s in a great school and that Boyce is an ideal environment for him. The students, staff, and faculty could not have done a better job at welcoming him and us. We are thrilled for the opportunity he has to study there. But still, we miss him something fierce. It was awfully sad to come home to a house with an empty room. I’ll be counting down the days until his fall break when we get to see him again. In the meantime, if you see him down there, give him a fist bump from me or something.

Last week Aileen and I marked our twentieth wedding anniversary. To celebrate, she and I are heading overseas for just over a week. We will be conducting historical research for the first few days as part of my EPIC project, and anticipate traveling from Toulouse, France all the way to Konstanz, Germany, though most of our time will be spent in Switzerland. We will be looking for artifacts related to the Huguenots, John Calvin, Desiderius Erasmus, and John Hus. I’m sure we will see lots of other fascinating things along the way. Then, when we’ve been through all the museums, castles, and cathedrals, we will turn from historical research to sightseeing and photography and make our way along many valleys and up many mountains.

I am considering this a time of vacation, which means I will be posting only A La Carte articles through the week (and thus, no original articles or videos). The regular schedule of material will return the following week. I’m hoping this will also serve as a helpful break for my hands and arms which, unfortunately, are not getting a whole lot better. Time away from a keyboard does seem to help them, though.

Thanks for reading my site and watching my videos. It means the world to me and I look forward to bringing you some new stuff in a week!


  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (May 20)

    A La Carte: The foibles and fallibility of Christian leaders / Mental illness / Why didn’t Christ come sooner? / When it’s okay to die / Spiritual formation / and more.

  • Unlock Your Ministry Potential with Microcredentials

    Are you looking for accessible faith-based resources that can help you serve your church community with confidence? Check out Redeemer University’s online church leadership microcredentials—available anytime, anywhere. #Sponsored

  • Discernment

    What Does a Discerning Person Do?

    Some Christians seem to be specially gifted when it comes to spiritual discernment. Others take a special interest in discernment and expend the hard effort of growing in the discipline of it. But they may sometimes wonder: What should I do with this discernment?

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (May 19)

    A La Carte: Dangers of theological controversy / No confidence? No problem! / The goodness of gardening friends / Jeff the low stakes prophet / Hurting people / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Prayer

    The Reward They Longed for They Received

    Jesus, who knew what was in the heart of men, warned of the hypocrisy of those whose prayer life is only ever public. “When you pray,” he said, “you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (May 17)

    A La Carte: Generalizations are not stereotypes / Hospitality and reaching the dechurched / Essential lessons for pastors / The rise of Islam and the resilience of the church / Gossip and godly church / Fear takes you where grace has not yet gone / and more.