Please no…

March 7, 2014

Wednesday evening Mary opened up her gmail account and read the following from the daughter of a close friend.  Erin is thirty years old… vibrant, bright, lovely and wise in a way that only pain, disappointment, and suffering can nurture.  The words exploded… This Afternoon March 5, 2014 2 years and 6 months ago I […]

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The Like Dilemma

February 28, 2014

I’ve encountered a dilemma… I wouldn’t call it a moral dilemma, but it’s a perplexing challenge.  Let me paint the picture for you.  A Facebook friend, several years my junior, posts a picture of he and his wife on their wedding day some twenty-five years ago.  In an overzealous effort to commend his bride he […]

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… the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music…

February 14, 2014

I don’t know about you, but when I read some of the Old Testament accounts of idol worship, I shake my head in disbelief.  The story of Daniel recounts the life of an ego-centric leader by the name of Nebuchadnezzar who had the audacity to build an image of gold that was roughly 90 feet […]

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The 9 Steps to Nowhere

February 7, 2014

A recent trip through a bookstore pulled the curtain back on the public appetite for books that create an orderly, predictable, and nicely controlled life.  Three steps to this. Ten practices that will rock that. Fourteen lessons to achieve this. Our desire to take control of our lives has oozed black ink onto thousands of […]

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A Lesson in Unvarnished Questions

January 24, 2014

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was […]

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“Some People”

January 17, 2014

When ambiguity is the most prestigious role we can play. “And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed.” Matthew 9:2a A paralyzed man.  A miracle working teacher.  A swelling crowd.  Intense scrutiny.  Skeptics.  The desperate.  Mystery.  Momentum.  Controversy. […]

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Either Love or Nothing

January 10, 2014

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  (1 Corinthians 13:2) When God makes a declaration like the one above, I better pay attention.  Amazingly the contrasts that God draws throughout the powerful and […]

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“Pops Used to Do That”

January 3, 2014

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” ~Ephesians 2:10  I’m absolutely convinced that Mary had no ulterior motive in mind when she informed Graham that doing a headstand was, in fact, something Pops used to do.  […]

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God’s Return Policy

December 20, 2013

“Thank God for his gift too wonderful for words!”  (2 Corinthians 9:15) I saw the picture and it prompted the perfect plan.  Thirty-three years ago I saw a picture of a clock that I thought would be a great Christmas gift for my father-in-law.  I had recently enrolled in an adult education woodworking class through […]

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Does God Have Whiskers?

December 14, 2013

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7) Last night Mary and I joined our son and his family for an advent hymn sing.  We were all attending a new church for this experience, […]

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