Kind of hard to believe I’m nearly twice my age. If I could give my 17-year-old self some wisdom, what would it be?

1. Be a friend to the weird kids. They have much to teach you.
2. Don’t obsess about girls so much.
3. Stop pretending you don’t obsess about girls.
4. Raise more hell. Right now is your only chance.
5. Don’t wait til you’re 21 to start reading.
6. Save your sketches and writings.
7. Your friends are also struggling with porn and also terrified to talk to anyone about it. Break the ice.
8. You’ll never stop sinning. No one will. You’re totally missing the point.
9. Your parents are going to be o.k. somehow.
10. You are less o.k. than you realize. Get some help (you’re gonna have to be brave though).
11. The truth really does set you free.
12. You don’t have to be good at drawing to be a good artist.
13. God’s will isn’t a mystery. You’re living it.
14. Stop and ask directions right away.
15. Don’t take your balls for granted.
16. Riding the bench is a waste of your time.
17. Have a small adventure every day. Have big adventures regularly.
18. She’s not The One. Not even close. In fact she doesn’t even really like you that much.
19. That Looney Tunes shirt you’re saving will never be back in style, not even in an ironic way.
20. Take sports less serious. In fact, take just about everything less serious.
21. Hang onto your friends. (spoiler: you actually do this and it is pretty amazing)
22. There might actually be folks that don’t attend Calvary Baptist in heaven.
23. Being a grown-up is kind of a drag sometimes. Don’t be in such a hurry.
24. Don’t let fear get to you. The future is o.k. (and Saved by the Bell reruns are still on. aw yeah!)

This post was inspired by Andrea’s list.

I was standing in line at a hospital and the man in front of me said his birthdate was 1919 or something like that.

I almost started crying.

Not because I felt compassionate for this lonely soul, but because the thought crossed my mind, “I could live to be ninety.”

It had been a while since I’d had any expectations of growing old, but the fact is… I still have a pretty good chance.

And that quite honestly freaked me out.

Read more

I’ve always had a bad attitude about personality tests (or their Christian counterpart – the spiritual gift finders).

I felt that people used such things to excuse bad behavior, fears and weaknesses. So each time I was required to take one of these tests I did so with the mindset of discovering my weaknesses so that I could fix them.

What added to my cynicism of such inventories was that I always seemed to come out right in the center of the grid, never swaying too far into right-brained or analytic or sanguine or whatever.

But after a decade or so of “fixing” my weaknesses I realized that it wasn’t working very well.

Read more