The Nice Chameleon

I have a co-worker (I’ll call her Debbie) who has a mountain of debt, mostly from a couple of years of college a decade ago. She  talks about  about her debt all the time—what a burden it is, how stressed she is about it. But she also buys breakfast and lunch every day, goes out for coffee regularly, and gets her hair dyed professionally every couple of months. I’m not saying this to judge her, as I have  a big log in my own eye  often whined about my own debt while sipping on a venti Americano or a $9 glass of wine. But I bring up Debbie because of a recent social media post she made: Debbie: Hey guys! So I reeealy want to get another tattoo. Yay or nay? Friends: Yassss! You work so hard you deserve it! Yea gurl! Do it! Debbie posts a variation of this question every few months. This time it was a tattoo. In the past, it’s been piercings, additional pets, vacations, even a house. Someone (probably a stodgy old aunt) commented, “Not a good idea, Deb. Pay of...

I have been reading like a fiend lately. Most of my readings have been in the area of social/cultural commentary, but I've also been reading quite a bit of theology. In an effort to both keep with my recent reading and expand my horizons in 2020, all while giving myself a fun "New Year's Resolution"-type challenge, I'm going to do Tim Challies's 2020 Christian Reading Challenge . As Tim suggests I'm going to begin with the "Light Reader" list, which averages a book every four weeks. I'm not sure how many books I read a month right now; I'm always reading four or five different books. But I imagine I cover four or five books a month, more or less. So there's a good chance that I'll get behind the first list. I'm not sure if I have the gumption to post book reviews, but I'll share what I'm reading (once I figure out the titles) and will likely post related thoughts and tangents.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, my notebooks were my respite from a loud, confusing world. My hearing loss meant that people often sounded like they were speaking a foreign language; I could catch bits and pieces of what they were saying, but I had to reconstruct the rest based on sight, context, intonation. It was a lot of work. I was tired all the time. So when I would retreat to books, it was like I could finally wake up and come alive. And my notebooks—my journals—were where I could communicate to the world, at least in theory. In truth, I never published anything in those journals. But they were valuable for (among other things) the sense that I could articulate and communicate--something I never felt able to do in the Real World. The hearing loss was one issue, but there was also the truth that I have always been, and still am, very shy. I've learned to "fake it" over the years, of course. And my shyness can even seem to disintegrate among certain friends and ...

Several weeks ago, I was deep in prayer, and I asked God how I can best serve Him and the church. "Write," was the first word that came to my mind, a whisper in my thoughts. Did that come from God? From me? What's odd is that I was caught off-guard. For some reason, the idea of writing was a little shocking to me. I say "for some reason" because I've been a writer all my life. I've never made it big, though I've published a few things here and there, and for most of my career I've been a technical writer. Writing is like breathing for me. So why was I so shocked when the word "write" came to mind? I guess I thought my "role" would have something to do with music. Or teaching. Or speaking. I have skills in all those areas, and those areas just seem more ... I don't know, active . But I do know how to write, so I'll go with that. Immediately after this big revelation, my schedule went crazy. I suddenly had no tim...