Amazing grace...

My choices will shape my character. 

Good character will empower me to be the kind of person God uses to make hard lives easier.  

Making hard ives easier is a legacy that will transform my world, one needy--and often underserving, person at a time.  

This is the miraculous power of amazing grace.

Letter to my younger self...

Today, I write to my younger-self, FOR my grands--Braden, Kellen and Gabriella and Grayson.

"I know you will all make choices about the way you live your lives, how you will invest your energy and what kind of legacy you will eventually leave behind. I'm writing because I love you all and don't want to leave these words unsaid.

It's taken me a few years to figure this much out.  Were I able to send a note to my younger-self, this is what I'd say... 

Know, Trust and Serve God.
Follow Christ.
Be kind.
Think noble thoughts.
Read and ponder history.
Be inclusive.
Love people.
Never mistake tolerance for love.
Be generous.
Teach yourself to say "I do not know."
Think God's thoughts after Him.
Be patient.
Stand up to be heard, sit down to be appreciated.
Cultivate quirky, life is more fun in the quirky lane.
Be a leader, willing to follow.
Invest in your family, you don't get do-overs.
Work hard to make other people successful.
Be humble.
Make mistakes. Learn from them, then celebrate them.
Wake up every day with a hunger to grow.
Be accountable.
Trust that loss isn't the end of life.
Believe that death isn't the end of eternity.  It's a portal, not a wall.
Be grateful.
Learn that God meets us in the stillness.
Embrace the things you fear. You may never master them, but then again, you might.

Your choices will shape your character. Good character will empower you to be the kind of people God uses to make hard lives easier.  Making hard ives easier is a legacy that will transform your world, one needy--and often underserving, person at a time.  This is the miraculous power of grace.

I love you all more than life...gPA

bN tGit

Whisper their names...

Taps begin.
Time adds little perspective.

Death in a hostile place, a time not chosen.
Cities hard to pronounce; countries hard to find.
Cause, clarity clouded, confused; hard to recall.

Taps begin.

Time dulls memory. 
Pace pushes people on.
Space vacated, empty, gone.
Place dissolves, no trace; so it seems.

Taps begin.
Time stands still; this I remember. 
Their laughter, their scent.
First smile, first step, first word, first love.
A Friday night; life was simple.
The future, a certain dream, bullet proof; not.

Taps begin.

Time release; tears flow freely.
Pride in lives well lived.
Grieving for lives given; invested and gone.
The loss, the pain; broken plans, broken hearts; shattered.

Taps begin.

Now it is time; whisper their names.
Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen.
Duty, honor, country; their last full measure.
No greater love, their sacrifice.

In peace, now rest.
Forget not, ever.

Finish Strong...

The cause/effect relationship between the way we think and the outcomes we achieve is uncanny.  

A "mind," even a poorly developed one, is a powerful force.  God blessed us all with beautiful minds; having been fashioned in His image gives us access to resources beyond the natural, built right into our DNA.  

Our minds are, of course, the most unique aspect of our beings.  So...what are you doing with yours?  It's "the first day of the rest of our lives," May 22, 2014--nearly at the mid-point of 2014;  a wonderful moment to look back at what was, then gaze into the second half of the year at what might be.  

Here's a perpetual list I use to keep my life compass oriented, "true North." Quite frankly, this is a "three steps forward, two steps back" process much of the time; but even one step at a time is progress!

Finish strong in 2014...

Go to and get out of bed earlier.
Be active, body and mind, with the extra morning time.

Give up painful thinking.

Don't throw others "under the bus."

Refuse to think like a victim.
Seek balance in my life.

Look for the best in people.

Find ways to add value to the lives of others.

Give generously to a cause you feel great passion for.

Volunteer and serve in some fashion, some place.

Don't be a cynic.

Refuse to associate with negative people.

Spend time in dialogue with people who don't think like me.
Make the effort to grow my intellect and expand my perspective.

Transform obstacles into opportunities.
Begin something that makes me feel challenged.

Mentor someone younger and/or less experienced.
Find someone to mentor me; be accountable to someone.

Read and listen to good books that make me feel enriched.
Journal: keep it simple and short; then watch that discipline begin to expand. 

Leverage the dearth of resources available on the Web.
Use technology in a way that prevents me from becoming its slave.

Finally, and most significantly...

"Love justice, do mercy and walk humbly with your God."  Micah 6.8

For me, it starts by asking God (again) to empower me to resolve and retool the way I think and as result, the way I experience life. 

"Father in heaven give me clarity to know myself; give me desire to reflect Christ; give me discipline to lean into You; give me focus to remain on task; give me wisdom to make 'best decisions.' All this through Jesus name I ask, amen."    bN

Something old, someone new...

On Thursday, May 1, 2014, we received two deliveries.

The first was a package generously provided by my sister; filled with carefully prepared and lovingly packed treasures from the life I've lived--and was lived before me.  A tapestry of  dreams, tenderness, ambition, hard work, disappointment and triumph woven through photos, cards, letters and other memorabilia.  It contained a narrative of my past.

The second was a person, fearfully and wonderfully made, named "Gabriella Grace" and delivered by our lovely daughter-in-law, Miranda, coached by our son Joseph.  "G" arrived at 11.10pm, weighed 7'10 and was just over 20" long.  She, along with our children and our grandsons and God willing, our greats...are my future.

Legacies are brittle.  Soak that in for a few moments...
I am grateful that I can look back, look around and dream about the future.
I am grateful that I have a sense of where I'm from, where I've been and who I've become. 

I am grateful that in this moment I can continue to shape character and destiny.

My story was shaped--altered, when at age 15, I made a choice to embrace Christ and believe His story.  He took my brokenness, yes even at age 15, and built me into a man whose heart's desire is to be like my savior, Jesus.  Laura, our children, know all too well the difficulty we've faced as a family and my shortcomings as a man, a husband and a father.

Here's my point: it's these challenges, these failures that add strength and color to legacies--that will give my grands and great-grands the "roots" to make choices which will empower them to continue to shape character and destiny; to build bridges from their past to a solid Christ-centered future.

Indeed..."All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful out of my life..." 41 years with Laura; our children Erin and Joseph; their spouses Matthew and Miranda; our grandchildren, Braden, Kellen and now Gabriella.

Something old, someone new.  Legacies are brittle.  Lean into Christ.

Grace wins.

I need to periodically remind myself about my mission in life--perhaps you need that too.  So, I repost this from just a few years ago...

"Huffington Post..."WASHINGTON -- The Defense of Marriage Act, the law barring the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legalized by the states, is unconstitutional, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday by a 5-4 vote.

'The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity,' Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion. 'By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment.'"


An urgent letter to my friends who identify themselves as followers of Jesus...

'Yesterday (June 26, 2013) The Supreme Court published its opinion on United States v. Windsor.  The sun came up this morning, as it always has.  A new day.  Here's the reality: nothing has changed.  As believers we are called to love the world as Christ loved the world, unconditionally, and be instruments of grace and healing.  

If history teaches us anything, it's that culture, people, tend to go the way they're going. The Court's opinion simply affirms what history so clearly demonstrates.  As a believer my mission has not changed one bit.  This ruling serves to underscore the urgency (NOT to fall back and counterattack) of what God has called me to do personally, within my spheres of influence, and corporately, through my community of faith; seek to demonstrate the love of God in tangible ways that will move people closer to personal faith in Christ. This means I must do everything I can to make hard lives easier--regardless of the spiritual outcome.

My church (the community of believers regardless of religious tradition) must understand that it is not about us; about making the world bend to what makes us comfortable and secure.  It's about the world.  We should expect that people who have not embraced the reality of God's love, will choose to live in ways that do not reflect that reality.  This fact should not repel us, it should compel us to resolve to love those not like us in the same way that God loves them--generously, redemptively, graciously. This is faithfulness to God's vision for His church, and His world.'"

Grace wins.

bN tGit

What joy!

Water flows; silk across rock.

Resounding concert of joy.

Linger, listen.

It comes, it goes.

Course of life it forms.

Reflect, rejoice.

Linger, listen

Reflect, rejoice.

New mercies, every morning.

Just sing!

Spring is off to a very slow start, even for Northern Indiana. 

This week has been dominated by a blustery chill that moves right through each layer I so carefully fit over this 61 year-old, well-worn body I call home, on this side of eternity.

Yet each morning begins with a concert performed on cue by the "yard birds" vocalizing--a song to the human ear. I thought it was curious given the wind, rain, biting cold we encountered each morning this week. But there they were, intent on doing what birds do. They sang, I groused.

Their internal calendar told the birds "it's Spring." They sing with confidence because they know, intuitively, that regardless of what the weather may be like today, it's Spring, and it's going to feel like Spring sooner than later.

It occurred to me this morning, off to another blustery start, as I listened to them sing outside my window, I can do that too. I know my life is "hidden with Christ in God," and even though it may not feel like that today, it will, sooner than later.

Colossians 3.2-4 "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."

He put a new song in my heart. Just sing. bN

Soon, very soon.

This is the hardest part of the weather calendar in Northern Indiana.  The caldendar says it's spring, reality says "it's ugly." 

Things are ready to go; mowers have been serviced, hedge has been trimmed.  Irrigation system is functional again.  Bud's are on the trees and bushes...the evergreens aren't just green now, they are awake!  Robin's are busy being the "dirty birds" of the neighborhood.  Lily and Chance track fresh scent everywhere we go.  We are ready, where is spring?

It feels like Thanksgiving Day when I was a little  boy.  Would our guests and extended family ever arrive...

"Mom, how soon will they be here?"  

"Pretty soon BJ."  

"Mom do you think they're still coming?" 

"BJ, they will all be here, just like last year." 

"But mom, we are ready, where is everyone?" 

"They are on the way."  

"Then where are they?"  

"BJ, why don't you wait outside for them, greet them when they arrive."  

"I think they changed their mind, they aren't coming this year." 

That's the way our conversation advanced every year.  A little boy, anticipating a favorite event, thinking it would never happen, but it always did.

I'm ready but spring just hasn't arrived...yet.  When it does come and the days slip quickly into summer...the memory of this misery becomes dim, almost dream like.  Every day a new color explodes some place along my route to the office.  It's warm, balmy...with life sustaining showers from time to time.

There are many "seasons" in our lives...they come, they go--some are better than others; they make life interesting and always produce something my memory clings to, which delivers a life-time of pleasure and expands my perspective.

Yes, spring hasn't arrived but summer's comin.'  It will be OK, sooner than later.  I can wait; in the interim, the memories from "seasons past" will sustain me.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Brave new world...

This 53 minute film will rock your world.  Watch it...then play it forward.  bN

"Demographic Winter"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZeyYIsGdAA