I just got back from a “last-blast-of-the-summer-beach week” with my wife and three boys. We had a great time despite some rainy days. (Who can complain when you’re at the beach?) We spent our week at Topsail Island off the coast of North Carolina playing in the surf and sand trying not to think about the reality of school starting back in a few days.

On our last afternoon as the high tide made its way in, the boys were playing in a natural “lazy river” created by the current in a drift of sand between the surf and our beach chairs. I noticed a fisherman to my left pulling hard at his line. He followed the fish down the beach until his line stopped directly in front of us. He struggled for a couple of more minutes and finally dragged onto the sand… a four-five foot long sand shark.

Needless to say, no one wanted to go back into the water for the rest of the day. We had...

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the last day of Woodstock. I have always been fascinated by Woodstock. I’ve been glued to the documentaries and specials on TV about Woodstock this week. While I was watching a documentary this week my mom commented that she remembered when Woodstock happened. She said, “The news called it a gathering of the hippies.” I guess that is a pretty good summary of Woodstock.

Last weekend, I took a little road trip. I headed towards the mountains to see my family. This was my second trip back since moving in January. The trip was twofold for me. I needed to get away for a few days to relax and rest. I also needed to help celebrate my cousin’s birthday. Madison, my cousin will be turning two at the end of this month.

I was struck by how much Madison had grown. When I last saw her she didn’t have hair. She could only say a few words. She was smaller. She now has a head full of hair. She can say almost anything she wants to now. She has gotten a lot heaver and a lot taller. It was great to see how she had changed.

All this got me to thinking. Children are intended to grow and to change. You don’t want your child to stay their birth weight and height. You want  them to grow. It is healthy and normal to grow. Just look at the picture of me when I was...

This time last week I was hiking around a lake in West Virginia with a wild and wonderful bunch of missionaries. We had spent the morning painting and after a quick lunch took a little down time before returning to paint the rest of the underpinning of Miss. Ruth’s house. We did a lot of painting that week. We painted Miss. Ruth’s, Miss. Mary’s bathroom, and Miss. Vita’s ceilings and house front. We also spent time mudding a cabin way back in the mountains of West Virginia.

Not only did we work hard we played hard too. We spent time riding four wheelers and enjoying the views from the top of the world. Some of us even ended up riding down the middle of a creek in a bronco. We got to tour a coal mine. We spent a lot of time playing card games and fellowshipping. We even spent some time playing pranks each other.

Something amazing happened in the midst of all this fun and hard work. We grew closer to God and to each other. There are two things you need to do to be a Christian. On is to love God...