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Image from snapclicksupply.com
Hard times to be happy, aren’t they? COVID: the deaths and shutdowns. Partisan politics: the strife and putdowns. Economic difficulties: job loss and uncertainty. But perhaps we’re seeking solace in the wrong spot. Happiness derives from what’s happening: good times make us happy, bad make us sad. And these times qualify as bad, in so many ways. So, as we prepare for Christmas, let’s change our focus from happiness to…
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image from snapclicksupply.com
So, looking back to Monday’s post, how do we maximize our opportunities for Jesus to show up unexpectedly? Perhaps by striking, hard, at the first fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love.” Nothing so immobilizes Satan and activates Jesus as a commitment to transcend our innate self-centeredness by opening our lives to love. The more we love, the more open we are to the God who loves. But…
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Digital manipulation by Jeff Boyer
Yeah, slightly irreligious, and we’ve all heard stories of Alexa’s mishaps. But a profound truth exists here. Jesus shows up unexpectedly, without needing Alexa. The King of Kings didn’t show up in a palace, but unexpectedly in a stable. The Lord of Lords didn’t show up at the head of a conquering army, but as a helpless infant. Most of us have experienced that, where Jesus unexpectedly steps in and…
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image from bearbox.org
Mom claimed I had been conceived in the Sierras, so I came by my love for them honestly. And in several decades of hiking and camping and fishing and driving through them, I never had any issues with bears. Until I did. Guys from our church camped in Gray’s Meadow outside Independence in 1990, and after chasing trout on other streams we came back to a campsite in chaos with missing items. The campground host came over, explaining that a bear had strolled in and…
Read MoreSometimes, some people (OK, this is mostly about me), overlook somethings we’ve done that qualify as small mistakes. OK, I knew these were mistakes when I made them, and thought they were minor. They were, and they weren’t. If you don’t see yourself there, then you might want to move on. But most who follow “Unconventional” or me on Facebook know…
Read MoreAlmost 140 years after the infamous shoot out at the OK Corral, Tombstone AZ continues to cause damage. Yep, I got wounded in Tombstone just this fall. Sheila and I spent a week at a Tempe timeshare, and I’d recently discovered Luke Short, a part owner of the Oriental Saloon there and fellow gambler with Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, was my great uncle. So I headed southeast for some family research, leaving Sheila to relax at the pool and…
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Pulling out of Temecula onto I-15 at 4 AM 2 years ago, I had one primary goal. To test myself, to push my limits, to see if at 70 I could repeat the feat done at 28: riding over 1,000 miles on 2 wheels in under 24 hours. Oh yeah, I had other goals, to meet Jerry in Butte as we hit 3 of the states I had not ridden in, and then to meet Mick and Brad and head to Banff. Dawn had not yet…Then serendipity struck…
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The debris and tools from removing pathetic plants
When we moved to Newbury Park back in 2009, we bought a fixer upper. Maybe the last two words should be in bold and all caps. After a year remodeling the interior, we then crafted a backyard sanctuary. A water feature became the focal point in a corner, with a stream and waterfall and small pond. Some greenery flanked it to soften the look: a purple lilac vine on the left and a jasmine on the right grew abundantly. So when we returned to Temecula in 2015, we wanted to duplicate our Shangri La. A slightly different water feature, and the same plants. But…
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