tellitslant

It’s 5:38a, and I’m up. I’ve been up for the past two and a half hours, ever since our son’s last feeding. When people ask me what being a new parent is like, I say that it’s like the morning after a great, all-night party: I’ll grip my head between my hands and rub the [...]

About a month ago, I stood over a kitchen’s granite-top cooking island with a dozen other men from our church. Normally, I’m not a fan of kitchens. It’s too much a place of preparation: someone has to think ahead about what to cook, then go to the grocery store to find the right, freshest ingredients; [...]

PARIS, France — Bonjour! Jinhee and I had enough frequent flyer miles to send ourselves to Paris for week, clearly pointing to the fact that we’re workoholics. Who says there’s no upside to bowing down in front of the idol of productivity? Our chance to wolf down crepes and croques is what many are calling [...]

The sonologist said he was “showing off,” so we knew beyond doubt that we’re having a son. He’s already an exhibitionist. That’s my boy.
But he also held his fists up to his face, and buried his head into the placenta wall so that we couldn’t get a good look at him. He was already avoiding [...]

We’re literally on the eve of Christmas, with the clock just past twelve. My parents are probably sleeping by now at my brother’s place, in the room next to his newborn, Carter. (Ain’t he cute?) We’ve no snow here in San Diego and lots of the ordinary, but after we finally turned off the TV [...]

I’ve been playing a lot of tennis these days. (Check out my new racket on the left.) Sure, I played a lot in high school, but I belonged to the Bad News Bears of tennis. We were one of the worst teams in an inner-city league in Seattle — before the days of Venus and [...]

A friend and I were walking on the beach a few weekends ago, and she told me about her daily life as a medical resident. Unlike the folks on “Grey’s Anatomy” who walk in through the hospital doors during daylight, she said that she often didn’t see the sunshine. She came in before sunrise. And [...]

Today was supposed to be the first day. Finally. After three months of stalling.
On Sundays, I go to church. And at the end of our service, anyone can come up for prayer. My pastor has always encouraged me to pray for others during these times, but I’ve always balked. Sundays, I reasoned, are my [...]

Yesterday, I got a big dose of perspective. I didn’t know I needed the medicine, but it did start helping me heal.
It came when I had a chance to study some of the most beautiful literature ever penned with some friends. The author wrote to a highly gifted community that was prone to showing [...]

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — Many years ago, I gave a talk called “the Art of God-Watching.” It’s the craft of seeing God’s fingerprints on everyday life. It takes some training, but once we have some competence, we can start to see burning bushes even along concrete, gum-stuck city sidewalks. Yes, each moment then can be [...]