Your Bag of Nothing for Thursday, April 3, 2025

  • Night Vision Temptation: When Your Inner Child Takes the WheelThe other day, while browsing Woot, I stumbled upon a pair of night vision goggles priced at just over a hundred dollars. Let me be perfectly clear: I had absolutely no need for night vision goggles, nor was I remotely shopping for such a device. But man, were they cool.My inner 12-year-old immediately perked up, whispering persuasive arguments about tactical advantages and backyard adventures. For a solid twenty minutes, I found myself transfixed by the screen, mentally constructing elaborate justifications for why this impulse purchase wasn’t just reasonable but practically necessary. “Think of the wildlife you could observe at night!” my inner child insisted. “Imagine exploring the backyard in complete darkness!” “What if there’s a power outage?” “You can be the cool dad with all the great toys they can borrow.” “You’ve worked hard—you deserve this!”The adult part of my brain struggled valiantly against these arguments, but the temptation was fierce. Who among us hasn’t briefly considered becoming the neighborhood’s nocturnal scout?
  • A heartbreaking incident unfolded at what should have been a regular high school sporting event in Texas.Man says son was stabbed in the heart at Texas track meet, died in twin’s armsFRISCO, Texas – The Frisco police said one student was killed, and another student is in custody after two students got into a fight on Wednesday at the UIL District 11-5A Championship track meet.

  • My church has been holding a small dinner and Lent event. When I attended last week, one person who has known me for about a year told me, “There’s a lot of pain in your heart. I can see it in your eyes, and hear it in your voice.” I’ve been chewing on that observation for a while.

    Last night, we focused on brokenness. One person remarked, “It’s one of those words you’ll only hear in church, we don’t use it in everyday conversation.” That same person then turned to me and said I have every right to slap her after she finished talking, but she could tell I carry a lot of brokenness.

    All of this was a bit of an epiphany for me. We discussed how brokenness and suffering aren’t things that should be ranked or compared. And we should bring our wounds to the presence of God so they can become part of our healing.

    We were then handed flash paper, something I was unfamiliar with. Flash paper is thin paper treated with nitrocellulose, which makes it burn quickly and completely with a bright flame, leaving behind no smoke or ash. We were instructed to write anything we felt broken about on the paper, take it to the altar, light it to give it to God, and be free, letting go of our suffering. I recorded a brief 17-second video of the experience. The experience was pretty moving, especially since no residue or any ash was left of the paper. I’ve been reflecting on what she told me, “There’s nothing left to see. It’s gone. You don’t have that anymore. It’s not yours.

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