Category: Personal Posts

Blog posts by Peter DeHaan, many of which are in his book Woodpecker Wars.

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Personal Posts

Smile…You’re Being Scanned

smiile

I recently renewed my passport, which required an updated photo. I went to my local Walgreens to take care of this and complete my renewal application as quickly as possible.

I placed my toes on the line, looked into the camera, and put on my best smile. The technician scowled. “You’re not supposed to smile for passport photos.”

I scowled back. “Why?” Ten years ago I smiled; the picture wasn’t too bad.

“Facial recognition software doesn’t work as well when you smile.”

At this point I discovered that when someone is about to take your picture and says, “Don’t smile,” it’s almost impossible to keep a straight face.

There was more scowling as she waited for me to rid my face of any hint of levity. Once I looked sufficiently dour, she snapped my picture.

When I picked up the photo a few minutes later, the results horrified me. Even though I never had one, it looked like a mug shot.

However, since I don’t like to travel, that’s probably a reasonable representation of how I look when I’m at the airport. So the facial recognition software should have no problem matching me.

And for those who want to avoid having airport security recognize them, just smile.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Personal Posts

A Christmas Wish

Christmas Wish

My Christmas wish for you is a joyous time of celebration with family and friends.

May your day be loaded with laughter and love.

May your table be filled with food and surrounded by fun.

May you give gifts well and receive them even better.

May you take a moment to thank the one whose birthday we celebrate.

Happy birthday, Jesus!

Celebrate Christmas in a fresh way with The Advent of Jesus. It’s a forty-day devotional that prepares our hearts to celebrate the arrival of Jesus in an engaging read. Begin your Advent journey now and gain a greater sense of wonder for the season.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Personal Posts

Where Do Frogs Come From?

Where did the frogs come from

Last night while mowing my lawn, I saw three frogs in my yard. In 24 years of living here and mowing the grass, this was a first.

Where did the frogs come from? I know the biological answer and the evolutionary answer and the creation answer, but those are the wrong answers to my question. I want to know why this trio of amphibians suddenly showed up in my yard.

  • There is no water on my property or nearby,
  • We are not in a low spot,
  • My lawn is not even damp, and
  • Given the drought earlier this summer, the water table is surely lower than normal.

Where did my frogs come from?

I asked the ever-resourceful Google and was treated with 29,300 exact matches to my query, but the top four sites didn’t provide the answer I was seeking. With 29,296 still to check, I’ve already given up.

I turn the question over to you: Where did the frogs in my yard come from?

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Personal Posts

Raccoons in the Neighborhood

Raccoons in the Neighborhood

I’ve blogged about squirrels in my yard, which I see on a daily basis and rabbits in my yard, which I see almost as often. This is not the case with raccoons. I’ve never seen a raccoon near my house, at least not until a couple weeks ago.

I was outside as dawn was peaking forth, setting the lawn sprinklers for the day. Not fully awake, I walked around my house, looked up, and was startled to see a raccoon lumbering across my yard, headed in my direction.

I froze. What should I do?

Do I yell to scare him off? Chase him away? Ignore him?

In my early morning stupor, I conjured up a comedy/horror skit, which flooded my mind.

I envisioned him rearing up on his hind legs and running towards me. With lightning quickness he would attack, mouth foaming and eyes ablaze with anger.

Before I could react, he would leap into the air, hit my chest, and pin me to the ground. Then he would…

I shuttered, trying to shake my over-active imagination from my foggy mind. It was not logical but filled me with fear just the same.

I clapped once to get his attention. He looked up with a start. He, too, was in a predawn stupor. To my relief, he made a U-turn and waddled out of sight. He was not full-grown, but with quite a tummy on him, he was apparently well-fed.

I recalled my next-door neighbor catching two adult raccoons in her live animal trap earlier this spring. I wondered if those were his folks. The trap was still set in her yard, ready for a third, but this lad was too clever.

If he was an orphan, he was doing okay, avoiding capture and finding plenty to eat.

Mr. Raccoon, I hope you have a long life and a happy life—just do it in someone else’s yard.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Personal Posts

Starting a Micro-Garden

garden

“Can we have a garden?” My bride’s question caught me off guard. We’ve not had a garden for 25 years, not since we moved house.

“No!” was my emphatic reply. I wasn’t about to dig up the lawn for a garden; plus our rapidly expanding maple trees provided too much shade for there to be any good garden space.

At first home, we did have a garden. This was partly because it came with one and because anything we could do to stretch our food budget was a good thing.

The garden took a lot of work, which I think fell mostly to me. The toil required for a nice garden was not a surprise; as a child, I’d seen the hours my dad spent on his, but then he enjoyed it—I do not.

It was fun to plant and fun to pick, but everything else was a chore, which I was glad to skip.

My wife was not dissuaded by my total lack of support. A few days later she proudly announced she’d planted beans in her flower garden, a small spot under our picture window.

She normally plants annuals there; then she diverted the space for her micro-garden.

About a week later, I saw the beginnings of plants, a nice straight row of delicate tiny sprouts. They were definitely not beans.

“Oh, I planted beets, too,” she beamed.

Later the beans popped up and the rabbits quickly found them, gnawing some plants down the ground.

The internet suggested human hair would serve as an effective bunny-be-gone. That night I was given a haircut.

I don’t know how long the scent will remain on my hair to repel the rabbits, but I hope it’s a couple of weeks, giving my hair time to grow enough to produce the next crop of bunny repellent.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Personal Posts

The Birds Are Singing

birds are singing

I’ve worked at home for over twenty years. With a home office, it’s critical to have a professional, work-like environment.

This is especially true when you are on a phone call (or video call). There can be no household noises, such as blaring TVs or radios, crying children, barking dogs, or talking spouses.

These sounds can all be picked up on the phone and heard by callers.

This has never been an issue for me—until now. Not that any of the preceding has become an issue, but I have introduced another decidedly non-business sound.

Last year I moved my office from a windowless room in the basement to an unused bedroom on the main floor. When the weather is nice, I open up the window for some fresh air.

Recently, while on a phone call with the window open, the person I was talking to asked, “Do I hear birds?”

Indeed she did. A musical concord of songbirds was serenading me outside my window.

Though melodic and soothing, they were also quite loud. But I would have never guessed their unrestrained happiness could have been heard on the other end of my phone call.

Singing birds may be unprofessional, but I’m okay with that.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Personal Posts

The Long Term Problems with China’s One-Child Policy

one child policy

In my family, there are a lot of two-children families. My bride and I both came from two-children homes. We have two children ourselves and both of our kids’ spouses hail from two-children families. Plus, my sister has two children.

So my mom has two children and four grandchildren. If the trend continues, she will have eight great-grandchildren.

Contrast this with China’s one-child policy, which has been in place since 1979 (33 years). A child born in China today will be the only child of two parents and the only grandchild of four grandparents.

If the trend continues, he or she will eventually be the only great-grandchild of eight great grandparents. This child will also have no uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, or nephews.

While this may be an effective means to curb population growth, it has two most negative outcomes:

First, a Chinese child will be the only child of two parents and four grandparents. That means that six people are placing their sole generational focus—good or bad—on that lone child.

There will be a tendency to spoil their only child and grandchild.

And there will be tremendous pressure placed on that child to do well, succeed, get married—and have his or her, one child. That’s a lot of pressure to put on one kid.

In addition, all these overly indulged, “only-child” kids, being the center of their family’s attention, will most likely be narcissistic and selfish.

Second, a Chinese child will be the only grandchild to care for four aging grandparents and later the only child to care for two aging parents.

There will be no siblings or cousins to share these duties. That’s a lot of responsibility to place on one child.

In societies with no procreation limits, parents rightly make their own decisions on the number of offspring, be it ten, two, one, or even none.

That is good and right, but when a whole society is forced to limit themselves to one, the ramifications are significant.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Personal Posts

What Happened to Spring?

what happened to spring

Yesterday was the first day of spring—and the temperature hit a record-breaking 86 F. The average high for this time of year is 48.

That’s an astounding in 38-degree difference. And today, the high temps pushed 90.

Interestingly, the average high temperature for us in three months, the first day of summer, is only 84 degrees. That implies that our seasonal temperatures are about three months ahead of schedule.

Now if this difference continues and the high for the first day of summer is also 38 degrees above the average, that would put it at a sweltering 122 degrees.

While I don’t think that will actually happen, I do suspect we are in for a hot summer this year.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Personal Posts

Dealing with the Daylight Savings Time and Jet Lag the Same Weekend

daylight savings

I’ve never been a fan of our twice-annual time change, in and out of daylight savings time. My perspective is to pick a time and stick with it.

This is in part because of the hassle of resetting clocks, but also because it takes my body about a week to fully adjust.

I also struggle with jet lag after traveling. That, too, takes a few days for my body to recover.

This past weekend, I was able to experience both, the switch to daylight savings time Sunday morning and an airplane flight, spanning two time zones, Sunday afternoon.

I think that the first partially offset the second. But then there was the return trip, from which I am in recovery from the jet lag.

Even so, dealing with the adjustment to daylight savings time simultaneously with jet lag, is better than dealing with them on separate occasions.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Personal Posts

Could Spring be Right Around the Corner?

sign of spring

Technically, the first day of spring will not be for a couple more weeks (this year on March 20—unless you live south of the Equator, then you have a much longer wait).

However, the seasons seldom line up with the calendar.

For me, the best sign of spring is when I see a robin for the first time. That happened today. Another typical sign of spring’s arrival is bulbs whose new growth begins to emerge from the ground.

Unfortunately, for me, that indicator is flawed this year, as my tulips got confused with a warm fall and actually began showing their greenery last October.

Bravely these early arrivals, with their one-inch stalks, stood guard all winter long, despite repeatedly being covered with snow. Though they are no longer a vibrant green, they did nonetheless maintain their general color all winter long.

And now, with warmer temps, they seem to be growing again.

It will be interesting to see if they have enough energy left to produce flowers later on, but nevertheless, they do assure me that spring is on its way.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.