Author Archives: Lane Severson
Love That Lasts a Lifetime
Note: Today’s post was written by my mother, Jill Severson and edited by me. This past Saturday I read Lane’s blog about his first date with my daughter-in-law. I’ve heard the story before, once as a wedding toast from his best man Al Cedeno. I enjoyed reading the story, especially the ending where Lane wrote, [...]
The Upright Man: Confessions of an Opioids Addict.
The post today is being published anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the story but will be tagged under my name as author purely for logistical reasons. -Lane Severson Who wouldn’t have to get high just to stand it? What was unendurable was what his own head could make of it all. What his [...]
The Worst First Date Ever OR The Worst Time to Pee Your Pants
I had the worst first date ever. But, in order to understand why this date was so bad, we are going to need to take a quick journey through my youth. On this trip we will inventory the manifold fears and insecurities that embedded themselves in my mind much like a tick can burrow into [...]
The Worst Small Group Ever
I led the worst small group ever. I’m saying that as an indictment of my leadership and not as a criticism of the group. But they didn’t exactly do me any favors. The idea for the small group was simple: give 20 somethings a place to gather together, study scripture, worship and pray. It seems simple enough. But in reality I was totally against the idea that people in their twenties needed a unique group. Why couldn’t they just do this at church like normal adults? That’s when I had my first stroke of genius: make a church wide announcement that it was a group for 20 somethings, but invite anyone else who was interested to also show up. That way, I figured, the group might have a little perspective and diversity.
Seeking God’s Peace
Jerry Seinfeld once reported that people are more afraid of public speaking than they are of death. Then, in his classic style, he reflected: we would rather be the guy in the coffin than the one giving the eulogy. I have always related to this statement, not because I’m afraid of public speaking – I’m a sucker for the limelight – but because I would rather be dead than left alone.
Advent is for Seekers
The purpose of Advent is that we prepare for the coming of Jesus. As we look forward to the celebration of his birth (anachronistic as the calendar may be), we should challenge ourselves to look for him with new eyes. Advent reminds us that whether we are believers or skeptics, Jesus draws near to us this season.
God in the Hurting
One of my kids, “A” has recently been having a lot of allergic reactions. Most days she is breaking out in hives on her arms, legs, and tummy. We know in general what she is allergic to: cats, dogs, pollen, dust, etc. But the allergist is still testing her to get a complete picture of what we are dealing with. The cat and dog allergies are the biggies. “A” took the news that she wouldn’t be able to go to homes with cats and dogs like a champ even though it meant that she wouldn’t be able to play at her best friend’s house anymore.
Book Review: Afterlives of the Saints
A couple years ago I hosted a small group at my house with some friends. We decided to study a classic Christian text called The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks which has organized short stories and sayings from monks by topic such as Greed, Pride, Lust, etc. At the beginning of each group we’d struggle to articulate how utterly backwards we found these holy desert fathers. Their stories seem to advocate extreme, dangerous even, forms of Christian asceticism that no good pastor would recommend. So should we treat this book which is treasured by the church? Were we being exposed to how weak and pathetic our American Christianity had become? Or was there another purpose in reading these stories?
Normal Christianity
Have you ever been at a church prayer meeting where a boy rushed in frantically and asked, with deadly seriousness, if there was a priest available because his mom was possessed by a demon and he really needed help? Me neither. I slept in that day. I got a call from my dad (not a priest but a pastor, which the boy decided was good enough) telling me that he and a couple elders from the church had gone to pray for a woman who displayed all the classic Exorcist symptoms of demonic possession, sans full head rotation and projectile vomiting.
Boring is Good
A couple Sundays ago, while the priests prepared the sacraments, my oldest daughter leaned over to me and asked “can we go now? This is boring.”
“No.” I replied. “Boring is good.”
