I identify with Martha. That might seem odd, in that I am a man, but I think I do. I’m not talking about any sort of gender identity crisis, mind you. Rather, as I was taking care of many details around my home today (which I find myself doing quite often) I was reminded of…
A good friend remarked recently that death or dying came up frequently in our family’s conversations. His comment was more a good-natured jab, I think, as we were all enjoying funny thoughts and stories, joking around. But I have thought about that since. I wondered if we perhaps give death—one of God’s enemies, defeated by…
Righteous indignation on each side; blustery public diatribes backed by legal or biblical authority; verbal wars among foes and friends and family which take no idealogical prisoners—this seems to be the state of current events. But this tiny spider doesn’t seem to know, or care. She’s not angry, or justified, or changing the color of…
Beyond our bodies, we’re all the same. Lately I have had an interesting experience when seeing photos of people, current or historical. Somehow in my mind, I am seeing (thinking of?) the person beneath the exterior. Wondering at what unknown depths there are to that particular individual; wondering how we might be similar. Not that…
Do you notice that sometimes there are themes around you? I do. Every once in a while, many things around me (or even in me) will work in apparent concert toward some consistent message, idea, or theme. Lately, I am being pretty often reminded that life is full of new beginnings. And also that it…
Have you heard that as a cheer? We hear it when something “good” happens. We hear it less often when nothing good happens, and even less often when BAD things happen. But he is still good. I heard good news last week. In fact, the news was “good” to a whole region of people. Western…
This is the week for remembering, it would seem. Just days ago I marked the eleventh year since the start of this blog, and today, August 29th, we passed another special day in our family’s history. In the year 2002, our music had become the primary focus of our days and weeks, and even years….
Strength. Power. Might. Words that have impact, weight, gravitas. Vivid pictures of great force and ability prominently display on the screen of our minds. Big, overwhelming, unstoppable, unbreakable. Powerful. We love strength. We need it. The events of our lives remind us so often that we lack control, ability… power and strength. And so we…
If you’ve spent any time around Jesus, you’ve probably noticed that he sees things backwards; upside-down. His vision of how the world operates is counter-intuitive, counter-culture, and counter- most all of our own natural bents. Jesus took his backward thinking all the way to his own, un-protested execution. He was silent before his accusers.1 Jesus…
I’m really good at a lot of things. I think I always have been. My sister-in-law once called me “golden boy”, or something like that (even before I was her sister-in-law), because everything I touched “turned to gold”. And yet, I’m really not awesome. I wish I was. I would have lots of uses for…