Author: Jon Gauger

At our house, we call it “getting beautiful.” It's the process of standing in front of the bathroom mirror, trying to make ourselves look presentable. Ava and Emma (ages eight and five) have grown to love this time because Diana curls their hair and adorns their cherubic faces with a bit of blush or eye makeup. They like it so much that if my wife is running late (and they don't want to wait around), before running off to play, the girls will plead with Diana, “Don’t get beautiful without us!” We all want to be lovely. But the ugly…

Lying on a metal table while being slid into a claustrophobia-inducing tube is nobody’s idea of a fun time. But that’s where my wife, Diana, found herself recently. As she tried not to think about how uncomfortable that cylindrical scanner made her feel, Diana noticed the MRI machine seemed to be tapping out a (loud!) rhythm pattern in 4/4. So, she decided to sing herself hymns and praise songs—to the rhythm of the machine. She recounts how that choice greatly impacted her ability to overcome the discomfort. Difficult tests are nothing new. But Diana's strategy of praising in the middle of…

There’s something sick about a society that demands we prove our loyalty to some— by hating others. But in today's America, we seem to have lost our capacity to disagree without being ugly. Worse, we’re proud of it. If you want to be "in" with Crowd A, you can't just prefer A or disagree with Crowd B; you must positively despise the other guys. And prove it with your poison-loaded posts! This, in an age of “inclusiveness” and “tolerance.” Beyond hubris, this is hogwash—not to mention harmful. Though I'm no fan of rap music and don't endorse Snoop Dogg as…

Are you robbing God? “What kind of ridiculous question is that?” you reply. It’s a legitimate question, that’s what kind. For many years, I've designated my time on the train ride into Chicago for Bible reading and prayer. Nothing else is supposed to infringe. It's a simple commitment, and this habit has significantly blessed me. What could be a better start to the day? But for some reason, lately, I've struggled. My phone routinely buzzes with an "urgent" text from a family member or an "essential" email from a guest we will interview. Then, there's that task I forgot to…

Unless you are Danielle Steele, Dean Koontz, J.K. Rowling, or Stephen King, you probably need coaching with your writing. Being in great need, I’m greatly helped by an online grammar checker. It sniffs out sentences written in the passive voice, adjectives whose modified nouns are unclear, commas that have been misplaced or misused—and many other writing sins. Though I tend to accept most suggestions, I was bemused by a message that popped up in a recent critique of something I’d written (screenshot below): "The word Jesus appears repeatedly in this text. Consider changing it or rewriting the sentence to avoid…

When Ava and Emma asked me to play "Old Elf" (think Old Maid but with a bearded gnome), I plopped down on the floor and dutifully picked up my cards. As she nestled next to me, the game in full swing, Emma “couldn’t help” but notice what was in my hand: one last card (which you’ve correctly guessed was “the old elf”). Five-year-old Emma could have chosen to draw a card from her sister. Yet her big blue eyes narrowed as she softly stated, “I want to do this for you.” I tried to talk her out of it, reminding…

From a distance, it looked impressive. Quietly majestic, even. Hiking through the park, I wandered off the (literally) beaten bath to check out a tree whose circumference was 136 inches. That's 11 feet four inches around. Only up close would you notice this tree has a hole in the trunk. It's just about at eye height, so you can lean into the thing and see grass and trees on the other side (see photo below). But what forces of nature could hollow out a tree? Drought? Disease? Rot from within? I'm sure this tree has a story, likely a sad…

Letdown. That's the emotional state for many of us on December 26. And no wonder. We've shopped, dropped, wrapped, cleaned, and prepped. Then, all that work gets gobbled up in the time it takes to eat a piece of pie–almost. We’ve looked forward to seeing family. We’ve looked forward to being with friends. We’ve looked forward to a restful break. And now most of that is in the rearview mirror. But could I suggest we're looking in the wrong direction? Instead of looking back or looking down—we should be looking up. Consider. If you know Christ as Savior, you are…

It’s official! Today, December 19, we are just seven days away from…the start of the gift return line! Consider: Around 1 in 6 Christmas gifts will be taken back to stores. Approximately 1 in 3 three U.S. adults will make a return or exchange this Christmas season. 18-24 year-olds are five times more likely to return a gift than those 55 and up. Every year, Amazon returns cost the company more than $800 billion! We have a friend who is famous—or maybe infamous—for all her shopping returns. At least one store has placed her on a No-Fly list. She now…

It's our day-after-Thanksgiving tradition. I ascend the dusty heights of our garage door overhead storage, retrieving the interlocking plywood pieces that make up a nativity scene. The crèche is then assembled on the front lawn and illuminated with an LED spotlight (which sometimes actually works). One night, as we pulled out of our driveway, Diana noticed a curious visual playing out on our home siding. It was an enormous shadow bearing a striking resemblance to the Joseph figure in our manger scene! The spotlight seems positioned at just the right angle and spacing to make Joseph look huge. Ironically, his…