The sun was shining through the window on a Sunday after church. I was five and had learned about Heaven that day and told my Mom I was going. She explained how I get to Heaven and I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. No turning back. Baptized at nine, camp counselor, youth and…
Plot Twists
I love a surprise ending. The plot twists come from the imaginations of writers. I once was in a class at Fuller Theological Seminary – Westwood Christian Foundation (across from UCLA, where I had graduated 1-2 years earlier) satellite campus, with a writer on the show ‘Mork and Mindy’. We loved Jesus and wanted to…
What Is A Weekend?
That is one of the funny lines from Downton Abbey. I usually discover good tv years after everyone else is done with it. It is always about the script so I cannot figure out the appeal of James Bond films. Oh well. We are full on inconsistencies. The weekend has always been about fellowship and…
Life Is A Rollercoaster
Those words were in a prayer I read yesterday in the devotional, ‘Our Daily Bread’. Amazing, the difference a day can make. One person gets a diagnosis, another is expecting a baby, the weather always changes, and our lives are up and down, again. At the end of King Solomon’s life he writes the Ecclesiastes…
Doubter
“Doubt is dangerous to faith”, is a remark by Jon Bloom in an article I read today. I see that at different stages, while on our faith-walk, both doubt and faith can co-exist. My favorite example is Peter in Matthew 14:30. He boldly asks Jesus if He can join Him as Jesus walks on water…
Head Hung Low
For Christmas, my family gave me an art print that absolutely stunned me. It is Jesus hung on a dark cross with His head hung low, signifying His death. All artwork/depictions of Jesus are from the artist’s imagination. Someday we will see Him face to face. Today I saw another depiction of the true story…
No One is Self-Made
I saw a reality show commercial. These women are selling the show and boasting. Sales is boasting as I well know. It would have been an oversight to attend a marketing meeting and not mention how many successful home-sales I conducted. However, I was not “self-made”. Credit where credit is due. I was created by…
Moral Injury
How do we avoid moral injury? I read this term last week and it makes sense to me. There are times that the world seems so wrong (all of the time) and I’m not sure how to make a difference. God is all-powerful and I have a little power. I feel defeat when I end…
Not a Story
I say this all the time – words matter! I use and abuse words as much as the next guy but, on the second hearing of an Easter church invite I cringed. Do not call it the story of Easter. It is the ACCOUNT of Easter. Then the pastor on the radio invited people to…
God is Relationship
We know and say that God is love. He is more love than anything we know but love is usually directional for people. We love a person or a thing or what just happened. We are hidden with Christ in God and still recognize good vs evil. One day love will reign as the only…
Oscars vs Martyrs
I save, rinse, and re-use unspoiled ziplock bags. I’ve mentioned before that I was raised by good people of the generation from the depression. The “poor” principles were inconsistent but applied. So when I read that it took 10,000 hours, or some other crazy number, to make a dress for a star to walk the…