Author: Paul Santhouse

I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I’m also a husband, father, and grandpa. And I’m part of the Moody Publishers* team. Since I've worked with books for nearly four decades, and I believe the local church is where we become the kind of people Jesus would be in our shoes, that's mostly what this blog is about. Thanks for visiting. Paul *As this is my personal blog, the views and opinions expressed herein are my own, not those of my employer.

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Let’s say I’m standing in waist-deep water off Chicago’s Foster Beach with a box of strike anywhere matches in my hand. If I light a match and dip it into the water, what will happen? Yes, it will go out. And if I did the same with a second match, it would also go out. Even […]

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The tempests of life don’t always surprise us. Some we’ve faced before, and we often see them coming. When that’s the case, it helps to remember the experience. There’s an episode in Patrick O’Brian’s The Wine-Dark Sea that features four common stages of a storm. Though no two trials are identical, these stages rang true for me. […]

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“His third symphony revealed greatness rather than promise.” This was how the concert program introduced Carl August Nielsen, the Danish composer whose symphony we were enjoying.  Rigorous aspirations are crucial to growth, but they also take time and repetition to master. It’s why cellists practice, pilots up their skills on simulators, writers rewrite, doctors pursue […]

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Hurricanes arrive long before their arrival. The National Hurricane Center keeps vigil, tracking all threats before they get close. So do the news and weather channels, social media platforms, and every state and county in the path of the storm.  This is called love. It’s those who know caring for the rest of us who […]

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Gemstones fluctuate in value. A breathtaking engagement ring with a large diamond was worth more before synthetic diamonds entered the market. Its significance endures, but it no longer costs two months of wages. Even food, which is essential to life, is devalued by abundance. When we have more than enough, we discard it.  If value […]