The short story: Always wanted to make my living via music, but marriage and kids did away with that dream and I found myself working for a large corporation that became increasingly impersonal over the years. A divorce and midlife crisis greeted me in my late 30's and presented an opportunity to start fresh. Taking up music again was the first step to healing and after a few years of being single, I met Karen through AOL the spring of 1996. For a year, I flew from Seattle to Chicago every other weekend to see her, until we were married the summer of 1997. After 2 years of living in the 'burbs south of Seattle, we moved back to the mid-west, where we now reside in north central Illinois. It's a slow, quiet life we lead in a small rural town of 1400. Deep down, this is the kind of life I've always wanted. It occurs to me that many of my songs are in response to hardship and duress I've endured and now that I've found contentment, my songwriting has slowed considerably. Perhaps I should stir up some trouble for myself and start writing songs again?!? ;^) ;^)

Who bakes your bread?: Jesus calls each of us to fellowship with Him because He loves us. He wants to spend time with us and teach us His ways. Getting to know Jesus takes commitment and discipline on our part to spend time with Him daily. But how should we go about getting to know Him?

I once thought knowing Jesus was as simple as reading Christian literature. There is no shortage of Christian devotional and study guides, topical books, and even fiction for entertainment. As if that weren’t enough, there are thousands of web sites devoted to spreading the Gospel, and an abundance of subscription services to deliver daily prayers, scriptures, and devotio...

A more simple life, Part 1: My outlook has changed from one of striving to do works and looking for God's approval after the fact to one of resting in Christ and trusting the Holy Spirit to direct me in concert with God’s work. It is not unlike Peter who fished all day and caught nothing, who at the end of the day followed Jesus instructions and hauled in an huge catch. The former was Peter's effort without Christ's direction, the latter was Christ's doing through Peter's obedience. The lesson in that? Action without direction is fruitless.

One way I see things differently now, is through the 'gardening' metaphor so often used in scripture. Working in my vegetable garden those s ...

A more simple life, Part 2: Want more of God? Why ask man for what only God can give? Matthew 3:11 says that it is Jesus who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and fire. All we have to do is present ourselves to Jesus for His baptism, or as it says in Luke 11:13, we simply need to ask the Father for more of the Holy Spirit.

First John 2:27 says the Holy Spirit teaches us. In my experience, I've never really taught anybody anything, but what I’ve written is confirmation of what the Holy Spirit has already taught others. I experience the same type of confirmation when I hear others share what they are hearing from the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 16:18 says Jesus builds His Church. There are countless men trying to build ch...

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