March 16, 2018
The class has culminated and our beautiful ceramics are “adjusting” to life at home. I find myself looking at them from time to time and admiring the journey that Lauren and I embarked on. We spent time laughing, talking, and almost crying at our wheels. The smoothness of centered clay, the joys of pulling cylinders and the defeat of watching my masterpiece crumble under its own weight are the memories and challenges that beckon another run. One result that stands out to me is the durability the kiln has brought to our creations. We considered last week that the fire... View Article
March 9, 2018
“Hey guys I’ve got the kiln to temp, who wants to come and see it”. This is how the next portion of the pottery class started. The kiln is a fascinating experience to see and consider. For you pottery aficionados, the kiln under discussion is fired to a “cone 10”. (This denotes a certain temp and offers perspective into how the ceramics will turn out.) Our professor spoke with an evident excitement about the process from start up, gassing off, setting the baffles which pushes the heat down into the bottom, and the excitement of opening a cool kiln to... View Article
March 2, 2018
Does anyone like failure? Although I can’t think of anyone I know that enjoys it, some of my acquaintances seem to handle it better than I do. My dislike for it was on clear display last week when I went to retrieve a bowl I had fashioned a week earlier and found the bottom contained a large crack. I turned the bowl over hoping to relieve some of my frustration by finding was only a superficial crack; seeing the fault on the underside I knew this might be a problem. After a consultation with our teacher I disgustingly placed... View Article
February 23, 2018
Raise your hand if you like easy. Easy suppers, easy relationships, and easy careers are what a lot of us want. We also know that how we handle adversity (the lack of easy) is a product of what we’ve been taught, what we seen work for others, and a bit of determination that stamps it as our own. A lot of people are convinced that adversity and difficulty serve no purpose other than to slow our progress. As I sit down at the potters wheel each week in class, I am amazed at how difficult it is to shape the... View Article
February 16, 2018
Have you ever done something that stretched you way out of your comfort zone? If so, you will appreciate this. My daughter is an aspiring artist who loves creating unique content through art. For the last couple years we have looked for a place where she could learn to make pottery (in an artist’s world it’s known as “throwing clay” and you end up with ceramics). Through some outside help, we were alerted to a class for beginners at a nearby ceramics center and we signed her up. They made space for me and it’s become a weekly “dad/daughter” date.... View Article
February 9, 2018
Who was He for? The Super Bowl proved to be an interesting game with two evenly matched offenses who both apparently left the heart of their defensive units at home. The game will be remembered by football nerds for its unique side stories. The underdog against the perennial powerhouse (the account of David facing Goliath could’ve been used as a comparable scenario). A game with over 1,000 yards of offense, one punt, and several missed kicks. And then that fourth down play – it seems like the whole world, minus the Eagles players, was sure the coach was signing off... View Article
February 2, 2018
On Being Super The word “Super” has developed quite a reputation in our day. Think about how many terms include the word in them: Super Man, Super Hero’s, Super food, Super computer, Super Mario, and the big on this weekend, The Super Bowl. It’s almost as if the word by itself lends credence and weight to anything it is attached to. Would there be any less viewers if today’s big game was simply entitled “The Bowl”? With so many things claiming to be super, do you ever stop to consider if who you are or what you are doing can... View Article
January 26, 2018
Enough Room? My daughter’s class went on a field trip last spring and I volunteered to chaperone. (Nothing tops “Best Dad of the Year” award like hanging with your Jr. High daughter and her friends!) One of the stops we made was to a museum with a hands on rock/fossil exhibit. The lady leading this exhibit had a unique mix of passion, knowledge, and humorless wit; to put it differently, she was uber excited about things that no one else cared much about. I appreciated that even though the eighth grade girls weren’t that into rocks, it didn’t dampen her... View Article
January 19, 2018
“How Desperate” Desperation is not highly regarded in our Americana DNA. In fact in a lot of areas, desperation is considered a weakness. Advice is given that tells us not to look too desperate during a job interview, on a first date, or at the car dealer. Because in those situations, desperation can end up hurting your chances of acquiring what’s best. Few of us want to settle for second or third simply because we were perceived to be too desperate. There is one area where desperation is a good thing – Prayer. When was the last time you spent... View Article
January 5, 2018
“But I don’t want to” Trigger words have become all the rage on many a college campus lately. Many people with graying hair and AARP invites in the mailbox have some difficulty grasping this new social phenomenon. They can’t imagine words so offensive that the hearer is immediately overcome with fear, anger, or distrust. And due to this lack of understanding, one might find them selves laughing at the possibility of such things. A fair warning that you might find a “trigger word” in the next sentence. I am asking you to make some changes so we as a church... View Article
