Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 315

What’s with the pile of stones?

If you made a pile of stones this week, you may have gotten some questions, like “What do those stones mean to you?” It’s possible you changed the subject. It’s possible you told them that some guy in Indiana told you to make a pile of rocks. Or it’s possible that you said,

I’m learning how to build habits of daily obedience. For a week, I picked up a rock a day. For the next week, I picked up a rock and thought about the people I need to treat with grace and forgiveness. And this week, I’m pu...

Stones of help

Monday, I suggestedmaking a pile of rocks. This story is one reason.

Most of us don’t have archenemies. Israel did. The Philistines.

They were called Philistines before that became a name for the culturally inept, the artistically challenged. The Philistines had argued with Abraham. They gave Isaac a place to live. They were waiting on the most direct route from Egypt to Israel, but God sent the refugees the long way,“Lest the peoplechange their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.”They...

Remembering a dream.

Yesterday, I suggested making a pile of rocks. This story is one reason.

Jacob saw angels. And a ladder. And angels on the ladder. And God. God told Jacob that he would have kids, that he would own the land, that he would be safe.

And then Jacob woke up.

It was a dream. It was the kind of dream perfect for a young adult running for his life. Jacob had extorted the rights of the firstborn from his brother. He had conned his dad. The night of the dream, Jacob was on his way to his mother’s family,...

Stones of remembrance

Some of you have been gathering fist-sized stones for a couple weeks. Some of you haven’t. But you can start now.

Pile the stones you have in a little pile. In the old days, this happened often. It was a way to remember something amazing that happened. People would make a pile of stones, or set a stone on end. And whenever you passed the pile, you would remember what what happened.

So take a few of your rocks and make a little pile next to the driveway or under your window at work. In a corner...

Setting down the rocks

On Monday, I wrote about the next step in picking up a fist-sized rock:

This week, when you pick up your rock, think of someone who annoys you. Not an enemy, not really, but a person who gets on your nerves. Then, when you put the rock down, on your desk, in your car’s console, say “I’m not going to throw this at you.”

And this week, I’ll write about doing hard things.

The other day, I got an email from my friendJim.

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Dear Jon,

Doing hard things!? How does choosing not to be annoyed sound for a...

Wisdom includes implementation

Yesterday I talked aboutoffering to help the studentsin my speech classes.

I was being fairly generous, I thought.

And there were several students across the years who took me up on my offer. They stopped me after class, they came to my office, they called me. (If there had been email back then, I’m sure we would have interacted that way.)

There were a couple kinds of students who confused me, however.

One group never came to see me. I knew they were struggling, and I renewed my offer often. But...

Looking for wisdom

First published November 15, 2012

I used to teach college students how to speak.

I would tell them at the beginning of the class, “When you give your speech, I will assign you a grade. In that moment, when you are completing the assignment, I will use the standards that I have established. And you will be on your own in the performance.”

I would continue, “Until that moment, however, I am here to help you. If you are looking for ideas for a topic, ask me. If you are looking for ways to approach...

When I don’t know what to ask.

A friend and I were praying. We meet almost every week. We talk about our lives. And we pray for each other.

I said, “You know about the pain. You know about the grief.” and I listed a couple more things that were happening in the life of my friend.

And then I said, “I have no idea what to ask you to do.”

Anything that I could think of to ask for…comfort, wisdom, peace…felt pretty inadequate and pretty redundant. I mean, God already knows when those things are needed, whether we think that he pr...

Picking up rocks.

Last week, at the start of our 90 day countdown, I asked you to pick up a fist-sized rock each day.

Here’s why: We’re talking about changing habits, about becoming more spiritual, becoming more like Jesus. And people usually do that by doing something “spiritual”, trying to read the Bible every day or pray every day. But that’s hard for some of us. Because if we don’t complete whatever the action is, we feel like we’ve failed two ways, one at following through on a commitment and two, at somet...

An engagement of stories

First published August 24, 2012

If I did a webinar about Jesus, I would probably start with a story.

Because Jesus told stories. He didn’t tell nice stories, not really. We think they were nice because we’ve made them nice. But he took dynamite for the status quo and wrapped it in narrative instead of rules. And then attached a slow-burning fuse so that by the time it blew up, you had walked away smiling at what his words seemed to do to the other guy. And then the assumptions that made up the...