Author: Jon Gauger

He was a fugitive on the run, desperate for a place to hide. The 38-year-old man had escaped a prison sentence for aggravated assault and resisting a public official. Fresh out of options, he noticed a life-sized nativity set and seized on a moment of inspiration. When no one was looking, he stepped right into that nativity scene posing as someone adoring the Christ child. That’s when an onlooker of no less stature than the town’s mayor walked by. At first, he was impressed by how “lifelike” the figure was. But then the mayor realized it was all a fake…

Unlikely. Unexpected. That was my reaction to the announcement that ABC would be airing a Kevin Costner TV special exploring the birth of Jesus Christ, “like you’ve never seen it before.” So, we watched it—every minute of it. Part drama and part documentary, the program, between scenes, offered viewpoints from an array of sympathetic experts, including Francis Chan. The dramatic portrayal of the aged Simeon chuckling as he lays eyes on the infant Jesus is pure delight. Yet when he turns to Mary with the prophetic utterance, “a sword will pierce even your own soul,” we shudder at her agony…

I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.  Psalm 34:1 This verse makes perfect sense on a Sunday morning. But what about when life stinks? Just a couple of years into his marriage, my friend Rick noticed his wife exhibiting signs of mental struggles. But she was too young for anything serious, right? Walking alongside Rick the mile-and-a-half commute from Moody to the train station, he shared often. About how his wife's condition grew so bad that she had to be hospitalized and then institutionalized. Rick went on to live most of…

Praising God, giving Him glory—it’s optional, right? It's something we do on Sunday mornings or when we hike up mountains or saunter down a beach at sunset. Praise is the thing you do when you feel especially close to God or grateful for something He's done— like a Thanksgiving family gathering, right? Yes, but… Psalm 29:2 says we are to “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name.” Nothing was mentioned there about our mood or happiness quotient. Nothing to suggest that giving God glory is contingent upon our satisfaction with our circumstances, the weather, or the Almighty Himself….

As a kindergartner in Romania during the Communist era, Cristina remembers her teacher asking, “How many of you kids go to church?” Brave Cristina stepped forward—alone. The teacher then reamed her out in front of the entire class. "Never, ever go to church again!" she demanded. Cristina protested, "But my parents go to church." As often happens, word of Cristina’s brave classroom stand got around. A school caretaker named Natalie later approached Cristina quietly, asking her to sing a song from church. Natalie was curious—and hungry, for what she did not know. Though Cristina may have felt a sense of…

“Where are we, guys?” At church orchestra rehearsals, I ask that question with alarming frequency. Keeping track of all the measures you’re not supposed to play can be more difficult than actually playing. I often joke, "If a piece ain't in 4/4 or 3/4 time, I'm not responsible for counting." Muddying the musical waters is the fact that songwriting has evolved in recent times. There's no shortage of codas (confusing notations that direct you to play some—but not all—of a section of music). Plus, you now often encounter a pre-chorus, second chorus, post-chorus, turn, alternate ending, and on it goes….

Contrary to the TV commercials, America does not run on Dunkin'. Increasingly, it runs on bashin', as in bashing our political (or any other) opponents. Skepticism and snarkiness are now the aging parents of a toxicity no one could have imagined ten years ago. Example. The very day we read about former Vice President Dick Cheney’s death, I saw a fellow train commuter’s phone flashing the headline, “Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”  And to think decency used to draw the line. Apparently, we’re now celebrating death, folks. Of course, the boulevard of beastliness is a two-way street. Conservatives rarely…

When you are six, learning to whistle is a big deal. When you are six, learning to snap your fingers is also a big deal. And may I remind you that when you are six, losing your first tooth is definitely a big deal? So it was that we received spirited updates on all these major life events from Emma, who is indeed six years old. As we listened in person or on FaceTime, we heard her snaps grow louder and her whistle less airy. We watched as her tooth grew wigglier and wigglier. But on FaceTime—or any time—nothing was wigglier…

We waited at the counter—but nobody seemed to notice. At a certain fast food Mexican chain (no names here, but their logo might feature a purple bell), we attempted to pay for our lunch. Mind you, we’d already placed our order at the kiosk, so as not to “trouble” any of the workers with—well, customers. We might still be there waiting were it not for a crew member who stepped out of the restroom and saw us stranded at the counter. She took pity on us, then took cash from us. We’ve had the same “you-folks-at-the-counter-don’t-exist” experience at a certain…

Got clobbered by a Scripture verse this week. Proverbs 8:13 proclaims, “To fear the Lord is to hate evil.” I’m guessing your reaction is like mine was—initially. With a dismissive yawn, you’re saying, “No problem there. I definitely hate evil.” Not so fast. What about the evil of profanity in the TV programs we stream? What about the evil of sensuality in the movies we pay good money to see? What about the evil in the books we read? And what about the blogs and social media voices we champion whose words spew a literary napalm over our political foes?…