Facing down failure

ONE OF MY first experiences with the deep shame of failure was when I got dropped from the starting lineup of the youth soccer team. As…

Baby steps at bedtime

SOMETIMES WE make things harder for ourselves than they need to be by filling in the blanks where the Bible leaves some space. Take the admonition…

When your kids tick you off

COMMISERATING recently with a friend over some struggles with one of his children, I was reminded of a book I have long wanted to see written:…

Bad back gymnastics

ANYONE PEERING THROUGH the window when they passed our house recently might have thought I had taken up ballet. They would have seen me pivoting at…

Lone Rangers and Go Along Gangs

I’VE MET MY share of Lone Ranger Christians through the years who, like that old Western character, are a strange mix. They want people to notice…

When you drop the ball

GIVEN THAT MANY folks greet the New Year with plans to improve their lives one way or another in the coming months, it seems a little…

My last-minute ABBY gift guide

RUSHING AROUND doing some last-minute Christmas shopping and short on ideas? You might find a helpful suggestion or two in my annual ABBYs—the Andy Butcher Best…

Look at who?

THE COUPLE STRUT as though they are walking up the aisle after exchanging their marriage vows, or like they have just won the “Year’s Best” award…

Christmas delight and duty

ALL SIN SEPARATES us from God, but that doesn’t make all sin equal. Some wrongdoing has much greater consequences and implications—for those responsible and for those…

The bigger picture

IT’S IRONIC THAT many of us go through life as though we are the star of the movie, unaware that we may have actually written a…