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
A report released in May of 2011 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that the gap between the rich and poor in O.E.C.D. countries has reached its highest level in over 30 years. Here is my response about how to shrink that gap in the United States. What’s your perspective? … 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
Here is a summary of my observations on presidential campaigns. The candidates always say they are going to run a positive campaign, but it always turns negative and nasty. They always say that the campaign is about the people and their love of the country, but the one with 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
Why can’t I be happy sitting in the pew and doing a little something to help out at church? Why can’t I be content to be a part of community association and help out at various fundraisers? Why can’t I become a part of the system and just shut up? Look … Continue reading
For the last several weeks, I have been poking around in the nooks and crannies of the Hager Hacienda in an effort to eliminate clutter. Boxes of outdated and unused books have been donated to the community library. Clothes went to the drop-off box. Old dishes were delivered to a local … 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
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 he dropped … 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
Here are some ideas that will get you branded a troublemaker. Advocacy People should not be pushed to the edges of our society. Some people cannot get on their feet without some help or advocacy. We all do not have the same opportunities because our history and circumstances vary … 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
I am a bit of a cynic, so I don’t have many heroes. Like everybody else, I have been disappointed, hurt, and dissed by people. Sometimes I think about those people, but not very often, because I choose to focus on that which builds, rather than that (those) who would pull … Continue reading
Right now, I am frustrated. My current circumstances provide lots of opportunities to find myself in such a state. Fortunately, I have been in good spirits for some time. Roadblocks have led to creative thinking or an acceptance of the uncertainty of all that hangs in the balance. I am not … Continue reading
I don’t live in Wisconsin, but I’m close… a block and a half south of the state line and I regularly read a Wisconsin newspaper and listen to Wisconsin Public Radio. Like most everyone else, I receive a constant barrage of sound bites, call-in programs, posts and tweets about what is … 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
I am not a fan of “the system”. There is a bit of the rebel and non-conformist in me. It is not as though I don’t understand reasonable expectations and endeavor to meet them. Rather, my issues have to do with the systematizing of everything and disregarding people who don’t fit … 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
I have just completed a marathon of an effort to get health insurance for my disabled brother for whom I am legal guardian. It began in March and was finally accomplished in August. I must have invested days or weeks worth of hours in what began as a simple question to … Continue reading
I just learned of someone who lost her job over a remark that was deemed to be racially insensitive. She is a hard worker, a highly educated upper level manager and long term employee who has devoted huge blocks of her own time and money to this supposedly Christian employer. Her … 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
What would you do if you suddenly lost your job? How would you pay your bills? Your success in weathering such a storm would depend upon your ability and discipline in developing assets, i.e., to somehow save money. Financial assets enable you to obtain real assets like a home, an education, … Continue reading
It’s an old saying, “The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer.” And it’s true! From 1983 to 1998, the top 10% wealthiest households came to own 90% of financial assets and 75% of real estate investments. Between 1983 and 2004 the number of households with zero … Continue reading
There is a lot of talk about the unemployment rate these days and how to generate jobs and get people back to work. Yet, it is obvious that the efforts to address these needs are falling short. Even though many churches have become aware that they need to demonstrate the … 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
Something was amiss. I couldn’t put my finger on it. I should have felt great, but I didn’t. After all, “needy” people were getting free groceries and I was helping them, so, why so glum? I felt like a mixture of grocery clerk and policeman, with a tiny bit of Jesus mixed in. Herein, … 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
Through my studies and experience of the last few years, I am beginning to formulate some principles for helping people in material poverty. No doubt, there are future revisions and additions to be made to these thoughts, but this is where I am for now. Dignity. People deserve to be treated … 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
Two groups recently approached me asking about a “missions project” that they could do. It leaves me at a bit of a loss since what I am working on is long term and arduous work. Ministry and mission is always about the people and never just about the project. People in poverty describe their … 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
Since church, i.e., how we represent Christ as a community in this world, is a pretty important thing to try to get as right as possible, I hope you will seriously explore these matters and ask, “How can we do better?” The Barna Group has carved its niche by providing … Continue reading
This part of me trying to explain my relationship to the church. You might want to read Part 1, first. Question #2 Why don’t you go to church anymore? Short answer: I am currently following Jesus without being a part of the institutional church because I like the freedom that it provides in living … Continue reading
I write as a way to help me make sense of things with the hope that it might help someone else who happens to read it. So, I thought I would tackle questions about my relationship to the church. I know by delving into this personal area that I am opening … Continue reading
This post will make more sense if you begin by reading the first one in this series on the new healthcare law. Let’s look at how the new legislation addresses the problems with our current system of healthcare that I wrote about in the first post. Uninsured people. – FIXED in 2014! The … Continue reading
The much debated, little agreed upon healthcare reform is now the law of the land. Healthcare in this nation should have been reformed decades ago. Like any problem, the longer it continues, the more complex the solution becomes. Some things in our (non) system are very broken. Uninsured people. The number … 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
I recently learned of a large food pantry in our area closing while meeting with some social service providers as a community volunteer. Through personal experience in working at a food pantry, study, and personal conviction, I have come to see food pantries as a band-aid approaches to a much … Continue reading
When thinking about a framework for laying out my personal story, I thought of Moses. While I don’t rate the same biblical or prophetic pay grade as Moses, the great movements in his life remind a bit of mine, only not in the same biblical proportions. Okay, the Moses comparison … Continue reading
Community organizing has gotten a bad rap because of the recent ACORN scandals. There are those community organizing groups that try to garner support to further their interests, rather than that which is in the best interest of the community. Building Powerful Community Organizations by Michael Jacoby Brown provides a healthy … Continue reading
Silos are those tall, round structures that you see on road trips through the Midwest. Each large grain farm will have one or more of them to protect the grain from the elements and store it until the market is right for selling. In the course of doing church work, … Continue reading
I want to close this series of posts with a summary of what I am learning about poverty alleviation. What is the need? (Diagnosis) Is it relief, rehabilitation or development? Are we trying to help alleviate suffering through emergency aid (relief)? Or trying get things back to their previous … Continue reading
Truly helping the poor is so much different from I first imagined. Certainly, it is more demanding, more long-term, and more relational that I ever thought. Part 2 (of 3) of Corbett and Fikkert’s book, When Helping Hurts entitled, “General Principles for Helping Without Hurting,” begins with differentiating between relief, rehabilitation, and … Continue reading
