It’s been too long since I last posted. I could give you excuses like I’ve been writing a novel or a commercial property we own had some serious sewer line issues (raw sewage was seeping into the basement, and our tenants were texting me every other day), or that I’ve been busy with this, that,…More
Tag Archives: Faith
Silence: hearing the sounds of the soul
Silence. It’s one of the best things for us. Even so, for many, it’s scary. So we surround ourselves with noise, TV going in the background or music streaming, podcasts playing, zoom meetings zooming. These days we have more noises than ever before. There are videos, shows, audiobooks, and on and on chattering in our…More
A stronger you is often born from weakeness
Weakness often begets our greatest strength. Most of us hate the idea of being weak. It conjures up images of being needy, helpless, desperate. But that is one of the best ways of unleashing our greatest strengths. It’s often when we’ve hit a place where we feel the most vulnerable, exposed that something is catalyzed…More
New York City Is Not Dead
New York City will thrive again. Yes, the city seems gutted. But it’s not gone. It feels lifeless but it’s not dead. Just because a creature is still doesn’t mean it has been snuffed out. It’s resting. More than that, it’s transforming. New York is evolving. It’s done it in the past; it will do…More
Jesus is not Republican
He isn’t. Do you know how I know? When he lived on this planet, he did not get involved with Roman politics or Israeli politics or run for Galilean office. In his ministry, he did not focus on politics or spend much of his infinite and divine energies fighting the Roman Empire or speaking to…More
Permission to live
Give yourself permission to fail, to overreach, to try. Give yourself permission to be imperfect, wrong, weird. Give yourself permission to do that thing you love, pursue your dream, take a different path. I’m not saying to do anything wrong or immoral. I’m just saying that there are a lot of things that are good…More
Hope, felt
Hope is there even if it’s hard to see. Yes, uncertainty is everywhere and it’s certainly scary, especially these days. Yes, these times are dark and not knowing what’s around the corner is daunting. But it’s not hopeless. Just because times are despairing and darkness surrounds us, we needn’t despair. Often the light can’t be…More
Finding purpose
What do you live for? It’s a simple question. But it’s one of the most difficult to answer. From my experience, many of us find meaning but few have purpose. Purpose is the belief or reason we have for living. It’s different from meaning. Meaning is about the significance or feeling of significance for something…More
Overcoming one of our greatest obstacles: ourselves
Our lives are determined not just by what we think but how we think. Before I started writing I used to believe I couldn’t write. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that my high school papers, after being graded, had so much red ink on them that they looked like someone…More
The YouTube ad that made me cry
Last week, we were watching a video when the greatest YouTube ad I had ever seen appeared. We couldn’t stop watching it. The skip ad button turned on and I ignored it. The ad went on for seconds then minutes. Until it ended nineteen minutes later. (I know, it might feel weird reading about a…More
John Pa 