“When you come back to life after death, it’s sort of like God pushed you out of His tummy.”

— Sullivan, unprompted

as reported by Carla:

Just after sunset yesterday, I yelled for Scott to come see this neat swarm of tiny ants that I found in the driveway. We noticed one example of the stark difference in our kids’ personalities when Sullivan stood looking from a safe distance while Éa lay right on the blacktop inches from the mess of ants and poked at them with her fingers.

When I followed Éa in her boldness and looked up close myself, I noticed that these little ants weren’t after some food item as we had first assumed, but were actually fighting each other. I described what I had seen to the others, saying, “They’re fighting! It’s an all-out war! They’re in piles on top of each other and some are carrying away the dead.” Scott explained to the kids that this must be two distinct any colonies fighting for territory or something.

Then our kids displayed another fine example of their polar opposite personalities. Sullivan folded his hands and looked up to the sky with his happy bright blue eyes...

Scott: Carla, this is called invalidating my feelings. You’re not giving me any space to have this opinion.
Carla: Scott, you want to build a spice rack out of Legos.

editor’s note, 11/2/24: I still call this being resourceful.

Hmmm…how can I go to seminary and then put that learning into good use?…

The only way to master something or become an expert in something is to practice and dig, dig, dig. The sooner I start doing this, the sooner I get happier about my skill set.

Yoga. Feels. So good. I must incorporate it more into my life.

Finally! Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority will start recycling yogurt containers on March 16!

“Daddy, do you have any seedlings left?”

— Sullivan, on if we can have more kids

“Man, it was dry in there.”

— Carla, on the The National Aquarium

Leviticus and Numbers tell me not that God is merciless, but rather that His bodily condescension at Christmas and Calvary is sublimely loving.

Leviticus and Numbers tell me not that God is merciless, but rather that His bodily condescension at Christmas & Calvary is sublimely loving.

“Well, I think he can get a pretty intense look on his face when he’s playing something like this, but I don’t think he ever looks like a pirate getting an enema.”

— Scott describing Carla’s imitation of Itzhak Perlman playing the finale of Erich Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D. (Go ahead. Picture it.)

Exodus 32-34 is very revealing of God, whose character up to this point in the Bible has been largely obscure.

Can we please re-christen our gridiron game the more accurate “tackleball”?

“How you say Thanksgiving in French is … ‘Franksgiving.’”

— Sullivan, giving his parents language lessons in the car on our way downtown

Gee, Aaron and his sons’ ordination was awfully involved and bloody. Why?

Read Exodus 16 and then tell me God, as a rule, wants to give us anything more, materially, than daily bread. I dare you.

Ha! The Lord of the Flies couldn’t make gnats! (Exodus 8:18)

Jannes and Jambres’ counter-miracles, genuine or not, show that supernatural acts are not necessarily signs of godly origin.

Moses & Aaron: the Bible’s first wizards.

OK, Exodus 4:24-26 is the strangest passage of Scripture I’ve read so far.

New (?) public energy saving idea: Install smart street lights that are aware of moon phases and cloud cover—and then dim accordingly.

Like Jacob, I want my last words to be blessings.

“But Dad, what is God? What is he? Is he just a big huge blump of air?”

— Sullivan, overhearing Carla and me talk about God’s kingdom

The Pharisees forgot that the nation of Israel’s eponymous forebear was blessed not because of merit, but despite sin.