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Chutes & Ladders
Do you remember the game “Chutes and Ladders” from when you were a kid? It came with a board, some game pieces, and dice. When I was a kid, I loved playing “Chutes and Ladders.” I remember rolling the dice, hoping to land on the long ladder that reaches all the way to the top,…
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Singing Songs While Bullets Fly
I hope that each time my faith is tested, that I come through for Jesus. I read courageous stories about ancient Christians under persecution for their faith and I wonder if many of us can measure up. In the pages of history, Christians persevere through slow, violent deaths. In today’s U.S., churchgoers leave the church…
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Typewriters & The Church
“RIP typewriter” has been a top ten trending topic on Twitter all morning. Apparently nobody is buying typewriters anymore, and the last “official” manufacturer in Mumbai India has closed down. It doesn’t surprise me that a typewriter manufacturer is closing the doors in 2011. What DOES surprise me is that they were still around at…
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Happy Easter!
Eternity isn’t for disembodied souls. We await a true, literal, physical resurrection from the dead. God created life; sin ruined it to death. Jesus restored humanity to life: our hope is in the resurrection. We are not destined to float about the clouds as spirits and ghosts. We are not destined to be formed from…
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What’s In A Name?
What’s in a name? It depends on who you ask. In Quentin Tarantino’s movie “Pulp Fiction” Butch Coolidge once said that in America, names don’t mean anything (or something similar I won’t repeat here). I’ve always found that interesting, because naming a child is a one shot deal. Throughout the Bible and indeed in many ancient cultures,…
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Career Motivation (I think + I might + I could = I’m a loser)
There is a big difference between “I’m not sure what God has called me to do career-wise” than the ever present crescendo of “I think I’m going to try figuring it all soon out but right now I’m busy floating aimlessly through life.” I’m not picking on you for not having your entire life mapped…
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Saint Patrick Deserves His Annual Recognition
I took this photo of Saint Patrick on my last trip to the Emerald Isle, near the Hill of Tara in County Meath, Ireland. Every year Americans of proclaimed Irish ancestry celebrate a day dedicated to Saint Patrick by wearing green, listening to loud music (possibly traditional folk music,) and consuming considerable quanities of alcohol in various forms…
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Pulling Weeds
I’ll be fighting weeds until the day I die. I invest money, spend time in gloves and work clothes, seek guidance from the experts, but the weeds always come back. I don’t like them, I don’t want them, and no matter what I do, I can’t keep them away permanently. I shouldn’t be surprised: 17-19 He told…
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Dealing With Our Pain
Last week my dentist yanked out two of my wisdom teeth. One of them came right out, and the other put up quite a fight. The battle was bloody, but in the end, my dentist won. However, every battle has casualties, and I am one of them. There are two complications to the procedures I’ve…
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The Forgotten Man
Ever feel like nobody cares? Like nobody is paying attention? Like even God doesn’t seem to get around to helping you out even though you’ve been praying through some heartache? Joseph was in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, in a country where he was transported as a slave after being sold as property…