Spiritual Disciplines

Tim Hansel is the author of a book entitled When I Relax I Feel Guilty.[1] He tells of the time when Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck decided to travel across the United States.  Steinbeck and his dog set out in his truck.  He recorded these observations when he stopped one evening in a diner: “It was all plastic…the table linen, the butter dish, the sugar and crackers were wrapped in cellophane, the jelly in a small plastic coffin sealed with cellophane. It was early evening and I was the only customer. Even the waitress wore a sponge apron. She wasn’t happy, but then she wasn’t unhappy. She wasn’t anything.”  That’s a striking description: she wasn’t happy, but then she wasn’t unhappy; she wasn’t anything.  It’s also a convicting description.  I fear it describes some of us.  We aren’t happy.  We aren’t unhappy.  We’re not really anything.  If forced to answer honestly when someone asked us, “How are you?” some of us just aren’t sure what we would say.Read More »Slice: Making Jesus The Door of Your Life (Jn. 10:1-21)