She Lives Beyond the Grave

Soon it will be Bryce’s birthday. That means I’m in party-planning mode. I imagine what it would be like if my wife, Jill, was planning his party. (Jill passed away three months after Bryce was born.) I can see her organizational skills going to work –the “invite list” would have been a mile long and …

How to Avoid the Worst Parenting Regret

Everyone has roles and responsibilities in life. Yet, they aren’t all created equal. Consider the proverbial man on his deathbed who laments spending too much time in the office and not enough time with his family. The moral of the story is not to quit your job and stay home. God created work as a …

Batting Practice and Spiritual Growth

Bryce took a batting lesson last week. I listened carefully so that I could work with him in the days following. The coach was very clear in his instruction and patient in his approach. I knew that one lesson wouldn’t suddenly turn my seven-year-old into a major league slugger. Everyone knows that even the most …

Come Clean

From my reading chair, I could hear the sound of my son, Bryce, running his bath water. After reading a few pages of a book, I realized that I could no longer hear any water running. For that matter, I couldn’t hear anything. It was strangely quiet –too quiet. I waited another minute or two …

Moonwalking in Heaven

I often wonder what it will be like when my son finally meets his mommy. Bryce was three months old when Jill died. Therefore, everything he knows about his mom is a result of the stories and pictures that I, along with my friends and family, share with him. In a sense, he has a …

Aren’t You Forgetting Something?

It may be the most creative question in the history of the world. Out of the blue, with no warning whatsoever, my son loves to ask, “Aren’t you forgetting something?” Then he loves to wait in silence to see if I can guess from the 43 billion possible things his overactive five-year-old brain is thinking …

Don’t Try to Parent From “The Cloud”

Do you ever take your work home with you? I do. I don’t bring work home in the traditional briefcase or backpack. It’s all “in the cloud” now anyway –just waiting for me to pick it up. Worse than what’s “in the cloud,” however, is what’s in my head. I don’t have to be sitting …

Stuffed Animal Prayers

A few nights ago, my five-year-old son and I ate dinner with my parents and my aunt Jane. As we sat down at the table, my dad asked my son, “Bryce, would you like to say the blessing?” Bryce said, “Actually Clifford wants to say the blessing.” For a second, I was confused (Nobody in …