Author: Roger Edwards

What is Good Planning?

My shower drain was partially clogged. By the end of each shower, I’d be standing in two inches of soapy, used water. I’d be all clean – except for my feet – a very incomplete feeling. But I ignored it. Because if I noticed it…well then…troubling questions would arise. Questions that I wasn’t sure how to answer (Where is the clog? How much work to get it out? What if I had to call someone?). The questions pooled around my feet. Better get out quickly. I know what you are… Continue reading What is Good Planning?

What Happens After Christmas?

Advent is the season to prepare for the birth of the Savior. We light candles, do readings, and hold vigil on Christmas Eve. Culturally, we’ve made anticipation of Christmas a foundation of our economy – with multiplying special shopping days; Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Green Monday. We start Christmas music in October. We have secular versions of Advent with “Elf,” countdown calendars and office parties. Then Christmas morning arrives – with a tremendous burst of energy as we race to rip open wrapping and appropriate our gifts. A great meal… Continue reading What Happens After Christmas?

Shooting Baskets

About a month ago, I walked into Dick’s Sporting Goods and bought a basketball. I’d been thinking about it for a couple of years. I admit, it’s a bit unusual for a man near 60 to be buying sports equipment that isn’t golf-related. But I bought it anyway. The clerk thought it was for a grandchild. I keep it in my car. It rolls and bumps as I turn corners. When I have some extra time, I stop by an outdoor court and shoot baskets. Some of them go in.… Continue reading Shooting Baskets

Your Name Matters.

In the 7th grade, a classmate nicknamed me “The Professor.” The nickname stuck both on me and in me. It stuck on me, as in a label. And it stuck into me, as in a knife. “The Professor” was not a title of endearment, not an affirmation of superior intellect. It was meant to take me down a notch or two. It did. My classmate saw me as a “know-it-all” – someone who thought of themselves as smarter and showed it by “knowing-more-than-you.” This opinion, apparently shared by my other… Continue reading Your Name Matters.

Good Time Management vs. Bad Time Management

Good time management is the bold choice to actually live. Bad time management is the fearful choice to barely live. Although time management involves all sorts of helpful techniques and skills, ultimately it comes down to raw choice. Which do you want: to actually live or to barely live? God gives you your life. He gives you a story to write according to your gifts, imagination and limitations. Will you take Him up on it or reflexively forfeit your life to the path of least resistance? Barely living is playing… Continue reading Good Time Management vs. Bad Time Management

The Big Family Trip

  It was July 2000 and Barnabas had granted me a Sabbatical – 2 whole months off! I wanted to do something big. Something the whole family would remember. At the time, our family numbered nine. We had four biological children and we had become foster parents to three boys (later adopted). The kids’ ages ranged from 2 1/2 – 17. We asked ourselves, “What would be a convenient way to make a memory for a family of nine?” How about a 24-day cross-country camping trip? Obvious! I planned the… Continue reading The Big Family Trip

Naked Dream

  “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.” Job 1:21 I have this recurring dream. I find myself in some back room of a random church, changing clothes. There is a knock at the door and someone (a friend or family member) is asking me to come out to see something – just for a minute. I explain that I don’t have my pants on. But this isn’t good enough for the person, “Come on, you’ve got to see this. Just a step. Just right… Continue reading Naked Dream

Confessions of a Mussel Man

  I am a true mussel man. That is, when I feel threatened, I clam up. I shut myself up inside my shell. There I feel self-contained, needing nothing and no one. Hard on the outside, my soft internals thus protected – I have created my very own universe. And I am my own God. I flexed my “musselness” just the other night. Something happened between my wife and me, something producing a negative emotion; hurt, disappointment, guilt. And so I decided to turn in early. I decided to burrow… Continue reading Confessions of a Mussel Man

Confession Lightens the Heart

  Do you know what a fishing weight is? It’s a lead weight that fishermen use to sink their lines deeper in the water. Sometimes they are called “lead sinkers.” Picture those little weights hooked into your skin. Hundreds of the small lead balls hooked into your back, your legs, your face. All over. Every secret you carry is like one of those weights. Every shame and guilt, every pretending about the truth. Some weigh just a couple of ounces. But they add up. You’ve been carrying some of them… Continue reading Confession Lightens the Heart

Have a Personal Retreat

. This past weekend I went away for an annual (sometimes bi-annual) “personal retreat.” I go to The Valle Crucis Episcopal Conference Center near Banner Elk, NC. They have, on a far corner of their property four Hermitages (pictured), which are one-bedroom log cabins arranged around a small, beautiful Chapel (those Episcopalians seem to get architecture right). I go for a lot of reasons. Some reasons are not so grand; an “escape from stress” or an “immersion in introversion” perhaps. But some of my reasons are most lofty: “I want… Continue reading Have a Personal Retreat