I enjoy making trades. Back in ’78, I swapped a well-used ’73 Honda 750 and a few bucks for a nearly new ’78 Goldwing. The pic above shows an authentic Colt .45 from 1889, that my dad’s brother got in trade for a pocketknife, in about 1925. The Colt has a value of about $2,000—I’m sure the knife got thrown out or lost quite some time ago. A recent and much better trade has made a huge difference in my walking with Jesus...
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image from Digital Sojourners
Wipe Out--Others
We have all been wronged, deeply, by a friend or a family member or a boss or a coworker or a spouse. Those scars run deep, and the memories sometimes never fade. The pain can still eat at our hearts. Last week we explored the forgiveness that God grants us, how he wipes out our sins and guilt. We get a clean slate. But genuine forgiveness is a two-edged sword, one that cuts both ways. If God wipes out our sins, we need...
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image by Andrea Rebello
Wipe Out--Ourselves
Back in high school, until one of us had a car, we’d hitchhike from Long Beach to Huntington Beach, also known as Surf City. South of the pier between guard stations 3 and 5 provided some of the best body surfing waves, so we’d swim to the outer break and merge with the water to catch one that would drive us shoreward until our bellies scraped the sand. Yeah, sometimes we’d target pretty girls standing in the shallow water, to come close enough to prompt their pretend-to-be-afraid screams. Sometimes we’d...
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Modern Morality
Meet Allie, our loved feline who marvelously expresses some modern morality. For years, Sheila adamantly opposed cats being on our bed. Finally, she softened enough to allow Allie on, IF she kept to a pad near the bottom. See pic 2 for a sample. She knows the pad is her pad. But look at the second pic—she went off...
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image by patheos
Worship's Courage
Some wit once compared the church to Noah’s ark, we couldn’t stand the conditions inside if it weren’t for those outside. That haunts me. Research reveals that over half of self-identified Christians have no connection with a larger group of followers—meaning we may have more Christians outside the church than inside. The church that Jesus died to create.So...
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image from Travel by Desine
Somebody's Watching
Just about everyone recognizes the iconic picture “Big Brother is Watching You,” from Orwell’s classic 1984. And while many fear how forms of technology have made this real, let’s keep this human. We’re not as private as we think. Back in college daze, several of us left our homes in Long Beach and headed for Independence Creek, about 300 miles north. In the interest of full disclosure, I had abandoned a relationship with God in my searching, although I still attended church. Mostly social reasons, frankly. So we pulled into a hidden spot...
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Lay It Down
Most of us struggle with self-will, and that problem most emerges in marriage. No other relationship so blends the amount of time spent together and the intricate meshing of lives with its closeness and importance. Understandably, that connection gets the most threatened by our selfishness. Ironic, the surprise that hit me on our 39th anniversary celebration...
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image by maryland-trout-stocking
Untouched
Some follow. Stalkers. They spot their prey, stay in sight until vulnerability maxes out, then they act. Following the trout stocking truck, they wait until it leaves and throw their line and Power Baited hook into the stream, in dreams of landing trout. Many trout. Large trout. Trout stunned by being transplanted from their comfortable home into a planting truck and then dumped into a frigid stream. Easy trout. And while I did that some in my younger years...
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