About a dozen years ago my wife, Debbie, gave me the most transformative gift I have ever received. It literally changed the trajectory of my life (and hers) forever. This sounds like I am setting you up to write about the …
Caleb’s Story
Sometimes gifts come to us as something we’ve been longing for, sometimes as a complete surprise. Sometimes they arrive in our life wrapped in struggle and less than ideal circumstances. That was the case a few years ago as my friends, Suzanne …
The Photo
I opened my first gifts of the season tonight. Four beautifully wrapped gifts; none extravagant, but all special because each one was thoughtfully chosen and handed to me by a long-time friend. We’ve been friends for nearly 13 years. In …
The Gift of Perseverance
When I was a teenager, my sister and I would drive to a tree farm and cut down our own Christmas trees. One for her house. One for my parents’ house. We didn’t make the trip every year, but we …
The Gift of Failure
Have you ever watched your boss stand up in front of 6,000 people and apologize for how bad your work was? I have and it’s a humbling, life-changing experience. I’ll quickly back up for context’s sake. Five years ago, while …
The Best Gift I Was Given
I was given the gift of poverty I was given the gift of loneliness I was given the gift of an ex-wife I was given the gift of a bad marriage I was given the gift of failing in school …
All I Want for Christmas is My Face Back
“You’re being such a good sport about this.” That’s the response I usually get, after I go through the whole spiel. It’s called Bell’s Palsy, half of my face is paralyzed because of an inflammation of the facial nerves. No …
The Gift of Honesty
It’s Christmas, the time when humblebrags move from Facebook into the double-sided, full-color Christmas letter. (Bonus points if it’s in Comic Sans.) Full of news about graduations and babies and promotions and trips to Nepal, these letters carefully glide past …
My June Jane
No one has ever accused me of being a woman of few words. But today, I’m going to change that. Two of the greatest gifts I have ever received have come in the form of my newborn babes. God does …
The Gifts We Remember
Most of us don’t really remember the gifts we receive for Christmas. We only remember how we felt. Our memories are not normally made of things, but experiences. During Christmas my Grandfather would always visit us in Louisville, Kentucky from …