PURE & SIMPLE IDEALS
Sometimes an idea becomes something much bigger than that original idea. It becomes an ideal. That thing by which all other things are graded. It doesn’t happen very often. Oar maybe it happens so often that we’re less impressed by it now than we were as a people at one point or another. Either way, [...]
60 DAYS OF SILENCE//
Giving a post a title like that makes it sound like I intentionally haven’t blogged for 60 days. Some might call this a “blogatical” of sorts. But to be honest, I haven’t intentionally not written. It’s been one of those summers so far. You know the kind. The kind that you’re busy nearly every minute [...]
AM I THE ONLY ONE?
Does anyone else think that this is as funny as I do? Maybe it’s the little kids flipping each other off part that makes it so funny. (As long as it’s not my kid.) Or the fact that at some point we all fought over a girl on the playground. Like father like son, I [...]
GETTING FED AT CHURCH
I recently wrote this article for a 2x/month newsletter for pastors in our network in Indiana. This was my second pass at the article. It kind of gives a look into my brain and heart of what it means to be a pastor… I title I loathe to be called. That’s why my title doesn’t [...]
ROB BELL COMES CLEAN
We’ve been on vacation this past week and I missed this coming out. It’s an excerpt from a sermon that Rob gave at Mars Hill in the last week weeks. Watch the video then read a few of my comments on the book.
SELF BRANDING
I’ve been toying with the idea of a personal brand/logo/icon for awhile now. I think that the TeamCoco logo is possibly one of the most ingenious marketing pieces I’ve seen in a long time. So, in honor of my affection for good art… and not having a good idea of my own… I give you the current TeamCoco inspired “PJ” brand. Imitation is highest form of flattery, right?
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MARRY A GIRL FROM CHICAGO//
So, I’m going to pretend that I haven’t taken nearly 3 months off from blogging and pretend that thousands of people have been reading everything I’ve been pretend writing in that time and that everyone checks back regularly and is hanging on my every word… … not really. + So, I’ve been thinking about LOVE [...]
WHY DO WE SING?
“Why do we sing?” This question has been the foundation of the David Crowder*Band Fantastical Church Music Conference (CFCMC for short) that just wrapped up a few hours ago. I couldn’t think of a better reason to gather, discuss, and learn than over a question as vast or profound as this one. Wrestling with this [...]
LET THE RANDOMNESS BEGIN//
It’s not very often that I get a chance to take a weekend off. What’s even more rare is a weekend off that’s still work related. And, what’s even more rare, rarer … If you will, is a weekend conference trip where I join up with 1,999 other people just like me. That’s right, I’ve [...]
Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow//
The one of the best parts of my job is that I get to be creative. It’s even in my title. I think, when people ask me what I’m doing… I’m going to start saying, “Being creative.” Yesterday I found myself in an oddly creative mood at 9AM. We’ll see what happens with this… And, [...]
FEELING BAD ABOUT YOURSELF BECAUSE YOU CAN’T KEEP UP WITH SOMEONE YOU LOOK UP TO//
I LOVE the Back To The Future Trilogy. Maybe it’s my parents’ fault. It’s the first movie I remember. We saw it at the drive-in theater next to the County Sheriff’s department where my dad worked. I remember sitting on Mom’s lap with those “mom earmuffs” hands over my ears for good long stretches of [...]
BACK IN BUSINESS//
It’s been a couple of weeks since a fairly long email/text/twitter conversation with a friend that was trying to comment on my joke blog and wasn’t able to find the “submit comment” button. Turns out that the theme I was using was “damaged” in my upgrade to WordPress 3.0. Annoying. But, when all was said [...]
“DADDA!”//
I got home from rehearsal tonight around 9:30. As I walked up the stairs, my 80 lb. pedal board in one hand with the other on the bannister… I heard something moving from Isaac’s room. When the boy moves… everyone knows. His crib was shaking with excitement. Then I heard him. “Dadda! Dadda! Dad! Dad! [...]
WEDDINGS//
I like to go to weddings. I do. This is by no means one of those posts that is intended to make wives go home and say to their husbands, “PJ likes weddings. Why can’t you?” Inevitably, I would get in trouble if this happened. So, I’ll leave it at this… I like weddings. I like stories. I like happy endings and new beginnings. That’s what weddings are to me. Plus, there’s usually free food… and what kind of Christian would I be if I passed up free food…
WHAT? IT’S ONLY BEEN 6 WEEKS?
So, what? It’s only been 6 weeks since I posted anything… I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how they get burned out on blogging and they feel like the need a break. A “blogatical” if you will. Then they come back and they have all of these profound things that GOD taught them [...]
DAMAGES//
If I’m honest with those of you that read this blog, I’m damaged goods. It sounds cliche, I know… but it’s true. It’s something that I live with. It’s something that we all have to come to grips with. It’s just a fact of life. It makes it really tough being the emotional train wreck [...]
11 OTHER PLACES I COULD LIVE//
I like change. I just do. Angie and I think that there may not be two pictures in our house of me with the same beard structure/hair style. I love the change in seasons. I like to rearrange my office. I just like change. I’ve never lived farther than 30-45 minutes from the town where [...]
WHEN ALL OTHERS SLEEP//
It’s 1:11am… And, I’m writing a blog. What’s wrong with me? There are so many answers to that question. But, in this particular instance, I find that I am more creatively inclined between the hours of 10pm & 2am. I haven’t had any caffeine today (see blog sub header). I just find that the juices [...]
EASTER//
Every Easter that Angie and I have known each other, we’ve had “transplants” over for Easter dinner. It’s been one of the best parts of our Easter day every year to open our home for people who don’t travel to families’ for the holiday. These are 3 couples that are part of our chosen family. [...]
BUSY TIME//
There are a couple of times a year that are CRAZY busy for those of us whose occupation entails church work. Church work is a weird term… really we all do church work if we say we believe and have faith. Belief is a weird thing. We all believe in something… even Atheists believe that [...]
FRIENDS//
So, on Monday nights our Life Together Group (LTG for the hipsters or small group for the masses) meets at our house. Most of the evening is just friends joining in common conversations of life, struggles, humor, etc. with some pretty in depth decision about what GOD is doing in our lives. Stuff deeper than [...]
AMENDMENT…
#17. My Friend Zach’s Blog… He doesn’t have a music section on it. And, that surprises me from him. If you’re confused by this random numbered thing… read my previous post. +PJT
IF THEY’RE SAYING BLOGGING IS DYING…
… then I might single handedly be keeping it alive. All those little blue rectangles running down the left side of the screen are blogs that I read regularly. They show up in my email RSS reader. Convenient and a time waster all in one! Here are links to all of them (in the order [...]
“LESS NERD, MORE ENGLISH.”
“LESS NERD, MORE ENGLISH.” A commonly heard phrase around the Towle household/friend groups when I’m around certain people. The friend who stole the phrase from Better Off Ted’s Veronica Palmer says it to make fun of his wife and I as we talk photo and design. (Make fun might be too strong a statement… perhaps, [...]
