This post is part of a synchroblog on gratitude as a spiritual practice. The other contributions are listed at the end of this post. I don’t exactly feel like the most qualified person to write about gratitude. If the topic were complaining or ranting, I would be in more familiar territory. When… Continue reading
I am seriously moved, definitely warmed and inspired as I just finished a new novel by Doug Worgul, entitled, Thin Blue Smoke. These characters got into my heart and let me know I still have a heart. They’re real and flawed. Some of them have had some really bad breaks… Continue reading
Getting older and having little to lose by expressing my opinion, has some real advantages. I have a lot of ideas and values that are very different than those I embraced in the first half of life. I like to write about these ideas once and awhile to help be… Continue reading
I have hit an awesome chapter in Richard Rohr’s Falling Upward and I am trying to unpackage it. Every time God forgives us, God is saying that God’s own rules do not matter as much as the relationships that God wants to create with us. (pp. 56-57) I always thought of forgiveness as… Continue reading
This post is part of a synchroblog, entitled, Choosing my Religion. The participating writers are answering the question, “If you could change to any other religion in the world (other than Christianity), which would you choose and why?” The links to their contributions are posted at the end of this post. I am cheating. I… Continue reading
Last Saturday, Patty I were selling Beadmomma jewelry (my wife’s company) at a local farmer’s market. It is a beautiful location on Lake Michigan, with sailboats in their slips just a few yards behind us, a historical lighthouse visible as we looked down the street just across an inlet, and museums along the way.… Continue reading
I wish Peter Faulk were still living and wearing his crumbled Colombo trench coat. I would love to hear him approach some church leaders at a convention and say, “Excuse me, sir. Just one more question. Did Jesus come to start a religion?” Religions have sets of beliefs that its… Continue reading
I have to admit that I have been itching to write about the hoopla surrounding Chic-fil-a and homosexuality. Based on what I know about the story, my conclusions are rather clear. Everybody has a right to their opinion. That means Don Cathy, the CEO of Chic-fil-a, a privately held company,… Continue reading
We have recently been to a couple of huge area festivals that attract thousands, the Strawberry Festival in Cedarburg, Wisconsin and Fish Day in Port Washington, Wisconsin. The Strawberry Festival in a massive array of all kinds of vendors taking up several blocks of charming, historical downtown Cedarburg. There is… Continue reading
Many years ago, I heard a radio preacher say, the goal of the Christian life is to sin less. When I was young (and more optimistic) it made sense to me. After all, we are to become more like God and he is holy. So, we should, at least, be… Continue reading
I am a mountain lover, but I like trees on my mountains, which is why I love the Appalachians. We have been in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, but never the Smokies. It’s my Dad’s favorite place in the world. So, I wanted visit it on our way… Continue reading
Savannah is really old, really southern, and really quirky. It has a mystical quality about it. It’s so darn hot and humid in the summer, you can totally understand why it was designed with all those famous squares all over town. They are basically little parks every few blocks. They… Continue reading
This was our backyard. Our main destination on the trip was an old timey beachside apartment motel, called, Island House Apartment Motel. There are a bunch of them along with a bunch of mansions on Casey Key, a barrier Island on the Gulf Coast of Florida. They call it… Continue reading
Broadway Street “The Honky Tonk district” There is a special excitement to beginning a road trip vacation with a new minimalist agenda. It’s a relief just to leave the old routines behind. On the way here, we enjoyed a picnic lunch of fried chicken, saw Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis… Continue reading
What is it about the South that makes me love it so darn much? Is it because it is warm? Is it because the people tend to be more congenial? Is it the mountains, the waterfalls, barrier islands, the beaches? It is probably all of the above and a few… Continue reading
After a couple (or was it three) very potent Margaritas and several hands of Rummy, someone said something that I found amusing at the time and I broke out in uncontrollable giggling. When I say giggling, I mean I sounded like a Junior High girl. And when I say uncontrollable, I… Continue reading
One cannot help but see the stark contrast between Jesus and present day Christianity. It is almost as if they are two different faiths… one separated, cloistered, its own subculture; the other, on the streets, in the slums, and bars. One, trying to be holy through self-improvement and dissociation, the… Continue reading
John 12:12-19 Twenty years later, I remember the opening scene. Jesus is playing with the children, palm branches are being waved all over the place as the little ones sing and dance while running down the aisles of theater up to the stage. It is that festive, moving, celebratory picture that is my… Continue reading
When pressed to summarize what he required, Jesus said, love God and love your neighbor. Paul, the Apostle fleshed this out by saying that God wants living sacrifices. He is asking for a huge religious paradigm shift that calls for an end to people trying to appease God. He is… Continue reading
Do we learn best from our failures or our successes? I learn a lot from my failures. I should, because I rehearse them over and over. I learn what an incredible screw up I am. I throw some gasoline upon my ever smoldering sense of shame. I paralyze myself from moving forward… Continue reading
John 4: 43-54 There is a near resurrection in this passage from John’s biography of Jesus. It was a government official’s son who was near death. His distraught dad had come to Jesus pleading with him to travel to his town and heal his son, but instead Jesus said, “Go back… Continue reading
What difference would it make if Jesus did not rise from the dead? We would be following a martyr, instead of a victor. The church may never have developed without the reassurance of the resurrected Jesus. The message of his followers may have been one of revenge and bad news,… Continue reading
Trying to nail down a post-institutional church theology and practice is a huge task and by attempting it, I am opening myself to misunderstanding. What I have typed out here is in no way meant to denigrate anyone who disagrees with me, but rather it is an attempt to describe what… Continue reading
I was mesmerized by Whitney Houston’s televised memorial service. Maybe, I do miss church gatherings a little bit after all. They certainly “had church”! Whitney was blessed with an amazing gift, a voice that she honed into something extraordinary. She was, apparently, a very sweet, relational soul with an abiding faith in… Continue reading
“You can live forty days without food, four days without water, four minutes without air, but not even four seconds without hope.” – Anonymous Hope Described It is laborious and depressing to try to muddle on when you feel hopeless. In my own precarious situation, I have noticed that the… Continue reading
Many Christmases ago when my nephew was at the height of the cool toy stage of life, he tore into one of his gifts from my parents, his grandparents, to make the awful discovery that his practical-minded grandma had given him the gift of tidy whities. They were not cool boxers… Continue reading
My favorite NFL team lost today… by a wide point spread … to a really bad team… on the heels of a four game winning streak, and I didn’t like it one bit! I hate expectations! I really hate them when they are projected on me and I am almost always disappointed… Continue reading
Temperatures cooling Hearts warming Family converging Kitchen cooking Television parading Table praying, chattering, complimenting, delightfully consuming Dishes washing Football watching Paper reading Naps calling Holidays commercialized This one less corrupted A reminder to Hold each other close Remember our advantages And those for whom they remain a distant hope All… Continue reading
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA&w=640&h=480] Steve Jobs made me do it! In his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford he told three stories from his life that wound up shaping his future. They were about dropping out of college, getting fired from Apple, and being told he only had a short while to live. When… Continue reading
Is it bad to get angry? Contrary to what I was taught, no, it is not. It is not bad to let your anger control you? Yes. And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry. (Ephesians 4:26) Anger is a… Continue reading
This post is part of the synchroblog, Down We Go. We all have our prejudices. Personally, I am leery of people who appear to have it all together. Right now, I am recalling the proper, Christian Grandmother who kept the birth of her granddaughter secret because she was born before her mother… Continue reading
Transitions are always unsettling, filled with thoughts of excitement, fear, anticipation, and anxiety. It would be great if we could set our personal GPS and follow the directions to our desired location, never needing to redirect. But, alas, that is not at the way life plays out and it really… Continue reading
Celebrity Edition There are a few well-known people that have made my list of admirable folks, including a singer, a football coach, a Bible teacher, and a comedian. Johnny Cash Cash is always at the top of my “most admired” list because he was true to himself. His musical… Continue reading
Last Saturday I was picking up Patty at the door of our local Wal-Mart when I saw a grocery cart stall out right in the middle of the very busy main lane of the parking lot. The guy in the car in front of me, yells out, “So, you’re just… Continue reading
Thirty-one years ago, I was twenty-five, Patty was just twenty-three and Nathan was thinking about finally being born. You see, according to the doctor, he was nearly a month late. He has always been one to rarely change his mind and when he found his zone, he stayed with it. So,… Continue reading
I was at my son’s watching my favorite NFL team be soundly trounced by a divisional opponent last Sunday, when my iPhone vibrated indicating a new email. That’s how I learned of Gary’s death from a sudden heart attack on Saturday. Like all of you, I was shocked saddened and… Continue reading
Happy National Back to Church Sunday! I have seen lot about it being back-to-school time lately, even back-to-football time (which I have been looking forward to), but back-to-church Sunday was a new one on me. Today, I am enjoying my Sunday by taking in one gorgeous, beautiful, warm, sunny early fall day.… Continue reading
Amuck: to rush about wildly That pretty well describes visits from my Grandson Sam, especially, this last one. The boy is a five-year-old perpetual motion machine. Sam and I kept each other busy last week. We toured the Jelly Belly factory just up the road (his favorite thing to do) Went to two… Continue reading
I am a dislocated warm weather guy. So, I usually have a lot to complain about with the fluky, upper Midwest, Great Lakes-influenced weather where I live. Just one “problem”, it has been a lovely spring, which is unheard of around here. In our area, there are scads of free… Continue reading
Thirty-six years ago, an immature, twenty-year-old, bushy-haired, long side burned, guitar playing, hippie-like, preacher boy with an uncertain future, but a cool ’66 Mustang married a far more stable and mature eighteen-year-old girl with beautiful straight, long black hair and gorgeous big brown eyes, one week out of high school.… Continue reading
Thirty-two years ago, I was twenty-four, Patty was twenty-two, Nathan wasn’t even a twinkle in my eye, and Michelle was about to enter the world. Always a pretty girl with big brown eyes An advanced child and early walker and talker A high achiever, being valedictorian of her junior high… Continue reading
Last Thursday my forty-eight-year-old cousin, Tim passed out at his job in St. Joseph, Missouri and entered eternity with Jesus. Tim was the youngest of all the cousins and I still think of him as being much younger than his true age. He grew up in the rural northwestern Missouri… Continue reading
Maybe it was the release of Johnny Cash’s last CD, seven years after his death, but something got me thinking about the people who have died that I would really like to spend some time with. I find it strange that I can only think of a few. That might… Continue reading
Here is an email that I received a few days ago from a really insightful friend. So… the encouragement I want to give to you is to breathe in the new thing of finding and expressing community and purpose and breathe out the old, stale mindset and I think you’ll… Continue reading
You may think of Willie Nelson as an ancient pothead hippie with a nasal voice and a worn-out guitar. You wouldn’t be entirely wrong, but that description is vastly inadequate caricature. Thanks to my son and daughter-in-law who gifted us with tickets, we saw Willie in concert at a nearby historic… Continue reading
