Joe's Journey

I had a fun night working at Weis for the first time in months. This may be in part because last week I gave my two week notice.  It was also due to getting to hand out candy to kids for Halloween. From 4-6pm last saturday, kids were invited to come for candy and Halloween crafts. I can't tell you how good and surprising it felt to have Halloween fun.  For the years prior, I dreaded Halloween.  I was in Swaziland two different years for the holiday and was so grateful to not have to think about it. The cause of my angst was the tension involved for Christians in the holiday. I always kept tabs on Christians who had strong feelings for it one way or the other. Some boycotted the "Devil's Day"  and others said how it was important to be incarnational and engage in Halloween "missionally".  I was torn between the fear and guilt I was raised in and my desire to just let my kids have fun and enjoy the day. When I grew up, we did not participate ...

It's been about a month since my last blog entry and I wanted to bring you up to speed. I crossed several things off of my honey-do list: window and molding replaced driveway sealed ramp deck restained bathroom molding repainted after my kids had peeled the nice brown to reveal sea-green under-paint. oil changed in both vehicles I felt validated as a human being after accomplishing these things...it's good to work with my hands and make visible progress on something.  I enjoyed feeling more invested in my home and of course my wife appreciated it too.  I read the following books in the last month or so: "A Universe From Nothing" by Lawrence Krauss "Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light" by Valerie Tarico I am still working on:   "The History of God" by Karen Armstrong and  "Greatest Show on Earth" by Richard Dawkins As I was reading Tarico's book, it made me...