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Attempted Wisdom

An Encouragement to Faithfulness
Attempted Wisdom

Christmas Isn’t Safe, It’s Good
Attempted Wisdom

I’m Angry and Sad and I DO Know What I’m Going to Do About It
Attempted Wisdom

Does Struggle Disqualify Me?
Attempted Wisdom

Misinformation
Attempted Wisdom | Best Posts

Boyhood is a Blessing, Not a Disease
Attempted Wisdom | Writing on Writing

The Power (and Danger) of Stories
Attempted Wisdom

The Mystery That Moves Me This Week
Attempted Wisdom

Screens and Games and Movies, Oh My!
Attempted Wisdom

Fidelity Over Arrogance
Attempted Wisdom

Memorial Day Fidelity
Attempted Wisdom | Jack Zulu

Encouragement to Create + Jack Zulu…Newbery Contender?

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Let's show up to our callings, reject the grasping

Let's show up to our callings, reject the grasping usurper strategy, and be faithful in loving and serving those we're called to love and serve. It's likely not a global, or even a very regional calling. It's probably living right there in the same house you're in and in the pew beside you. That's probably where your impact is most crucial and effective.

I'm rooting for you.

I know it’s hard to find any agreement on what i

I know it’s hard to find any agreement on what is or isn’t good for our bodies to ingest these days, but in our home we try to take a bunch of vitamin C when sickness is lurking around.

And, in case you’re tempted to think I wrote this about “the current thing” (whatever you see that as), please know that I wrote this quite a while back. It is aimed at timeless truth. It is also, I believe, perpetually relevant.

We should have consistency, and stop being useful propagandists for our tribe or team. This will take courage. Be brave! And it will take humility—the kind that confesses sin and agrees with God.

But there’s another way to confess and this one bears on this topic in a big way. Christianity is a confessional religion. (Yes, Christianity is a religion.) We have creeds that all Christians everywhere agree on. The Nicene and Apostles Creeds are in that category. They are biblical guidelines to what is and is not believable inside the Faith. They aren't a replacement for Holy Scripture, but an important summary of important core teachings of the Bible gathered to fend off false teachers, heresies, and cults. But my point is that we possess an agreement about what reality is, and it serves us as we measure whether or not something is faithful and true.

In my own Christian tradition, the Lord’s Day sermon is sandwiched between the readings of Holy Scripture and the Nicene Creed. If anything in the sermon contradicts either, it should be rejected.

The point is that we as Christians have a standard. This standard is not contingent on the colors of the jersey of the player who is playing and on how badly we want them to triumph. Just because the other team uses lies and perversity to achieve goals does not mean that lies and perversity are now on the table for us to use as tools to win.

Losing an argument, or an election, is okay. Losing our souls, is not.

We need to be consistent. We need courage. We need confession—both to affirm what God has said as true and required for us and to admit that we have fallen short of his standard.

In many ways we do live in a sick society. These Cs are curative and, I believe, contagious. Pass it on.

🎨 #sdsmithdopequotescuration #rickrubin #autho

🎨

#sdsmithdopequotescuration #rickrubin #author #quotes

I genuinely wish we could go all over and meet eve

I genuinely wish we could go all over and meet every one of you amazing folks, but I'm only hitting a few spots this year. I'm grateful for the kind invitations, and I wish we could say "yes" more often, but I'm trying hard to write more and be faithful and present in my home, church, and community.

I've never been to Alaska, so that should be amazing. Alaska's Homeschool Conference will be great! I look forward to that. What should I go see in the Anchorage area?

I'm excited to return to Texas, a wonderful country I haven't visited in a while. I hope to see lots of you down there in The Woodlands for the Texas Homeschool Convention. We're doing Green Ember LIVE (unreleased story performance and Green Ember music) and that should be super fun!

As I've mentioned, HopeWords in southern West Virginia (my hood) is an absolute banger this year. Some amazing middle-grade/children's authors like Mitali Perkins and Gary D. Schmidt, as well as my good pals Alexandra Davis and Daniel Nayeri. So fun.

Here's where you'll find me this year!

Recent reviews of Green Ember: Helmer! Thank you,

Recent reviews of Green Ember: Helmer! Thank you, dear readers and friends, for the kindness!

It’s my birthday again, and I’m sensing a patt

It’s my birthday again, and I’m sensing a pattern. Seems to keep happening. Some folks hate to have birthdays, but not me. It’s a leading indicator of that crucial statistical category flawless scientists call ~still being alive~. I love that. I’m super grateful!

Special and sincere thanks and love to my one and only mother, Barbara Gail Smith, who is the one who put the “birth” in birthday for me. She isn’t turning a year older on February 11, but she gave me life (with the help of the Lord) and I love her and I’m grateful.

This year is the big forty-nine (in human years). In keeping with an old (topical) tradition of mine, here are nine things, in no particular order, I’m thankful for. (Because forty-nine is too high for this forty-nine-year-old brain to count):

1. Water.
2. A little baby boy we get to help care for named John.
3. Free markets and free trade.
4. New wonderful books by pals @claudeatcho, @thorntonchamp , @scott_h_james, @katehox and @joehox and Alex! (@danielnayeri)
5. My brothers and sisters in Christ from other faithful traditions.
6. Theo of Golden by @allenlevi. Wow.
7. All the wonderful people I work with at @story_warren.
8. Massive highlight: My parents, who recently moved near us!
9. New Green Ember coming soon! (I GENUINELY love writing & sharing these books!)

Enough about you, let’s talk about me.

Would you do me a birthday favor and leave a review for the latest Green Ember book: Helmer in the Dragon Tomb on Amazon or Goodreads? And if you ain’t bought it yet, what’s wrong? Get that!

Thank you, from the bottom of my old soul.

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