If you visit my office, you'll notice something about me pretty quickly. I'm a bit nostalgic, and I'm a big nerd. Combine those two facts and it makes sense why I surround myself with toys and memorabilia from my favorite childhood fandoms: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, The Legend of Zelda, and more. Many of us do something similar. For you it might not be sci-fi, fantasy, and video games. It might be reminders of the sports teams you grew

If you've ever felt like you're grinding your gears just to stay in place, you're in good company. The Teacher of Ecclesiastes, the one who calls himself Qohelet, "one who gathers," went looking for an answer to one big question: what does a person actually gain for all the work they do under the sun? In Ecclesiastes 1:12 through 2:26, he sets out to test that question for himself. Not in theory, but in practice. He goes on what I'd call an unfulfilling journey through three

Have you ever been handed a job, given all the right supplies, and still had no idea what you were doing? When I was in middle school and high school, I attended a private Christian school in Tennessee. Every summer, the school offered "work study" hours for students, matching them with various jobs around campus. Some worked in the preschool or elementary daycare. Others stayed inside to clean offices or file papers. My job was mostly outside. We ran weed eaters, cleared the

Tell someone you're preaching through Ecclesiastes, and you'll usually get the same response: "Oh, that's a downer." Fair enough. But it's also not that simple. Here's what I've come to see in this strange little book: where you stand determines what you see. Ecclesiastes is almost a mirror. If you're wired toward pessimism, the eternal Debbie Downer, you'll find plenty here to confirm it. If you're wired toward optimism, always looking for the silver lining, you'll find that