Dating Advice from a Married Religious Person Who Sucked at Dating

When I was in grad school I had a crush on a girl who I thought had a crush on me. When I asked her out in the library she squirmed a bit and said, “Hmmm… I’ll need to pray about that.”

I said, “Oh, yeah, OK” and walked away feeling like the biggest idiot this side of the Mississippi.

A few days later, while I was studying in same said library, a girl I knew walked by and asked me if I was going to go on a school-sponsored trip to Mexico. I said I had a ton to do and wouldn’t be able to make it.

We talked for a bit about life. She said she was taking a break from med school to take a few missionary classes at our seminary.

When our conversation wrapped up, she walked away and I thought “wow, that was the most amazing conversation I’ve ever had.” To this day I can’t get that girl out of my mind.

And you can bet your ass I went on that Mexico trip.

When I came home from the trip, Prayer girl decided that she wanted to date me, so we started hanging out. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Amazing girl.

Questionable at best to date one girl while being interested in another – but these were my days of confusion.

And I’ll never forget the night I decided to break up with Prayer girl and start dating Amazing girl. Continue reading Dating Advice from a Married Religious Person Who Sucked at Dating

How Changing My Mind About Changing Everything Changed My Life

I wish I would’ve learned this in my 30’s, it would’ve saved so much grief, frustration, relational entropy – emotional energy.

I’ve spent most of my life believing that situation determines happiness – the right job, a good boss, money, etc. I’ve had multiple careers as a result – nothing salves a crappy life better than a drastic change.

There have been some fun moments, tons of things to be learned, not many of which have helped in my latest career – Stay At Home Dad (SAHD). Regardless of where I’ve landed vocationally, there’s always been a nagging compulsion to change everything as soon as life becomes stale, boring, unjust, or downright bad.

Feeling like I can’t be happy until things change has always made me downright bitter, especially in those times where I was powerless to change things. There’s nothing worse than being stuck, feeling like you’re supposed to be somewhere else.

Everything changed in my late 40’s when I was assaulted in a men’s airport restroom.

I left my wife at the gate with 3 ancy kids, hoping to be back in time to board. This particular facility was attended by a soon-to-be elderly gentleman of Middle-Eastern descent. Continue reading How Changing My Mind About Changing Everything Changed My Life

5 Ways American Culture Mimics the Mind of a Bad Teenager

We’ve grown up.

We no longer answer to grandma’s prudish sensibilities. We have more money, a better grasp of our physical universe, and much, much more freedom than any generation before us.

We’re more mature than we used to be, like the way a teenager is more mature than a six year old.

That’s a good thing. If we can grow out of it.

In the meantime, here’s a short list of big things that betray our country’s teenage tendencies.

Smarter Than We’ve Ever Been, and More Arrogant

Our knowledge of the universe stretches far beyond our ancestors’ – and is growing at breakneck speed.

But every time we make a huge discovery, we simultaneously uncover ten times as many unknowns, stacked upon the vast universe of unknowns that already exist. We should be humbled by this, but we’re not. And the stuff we don’t know? Psssht. We’ll soon figure it all out. Continue reading 5 Ways American Culture Mimics the Mind of a Bad Teenager