We live in a world of extremes, especially in our behaviors, our values. But what if we looked deeper at balancing virtues and decreasing extremes? The new Unconventional suggests a tool we can all use.
Read MoreEternity in Our Minds
“Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” Mostly true, isn’t it? Our default setting for life seems to be a relentless pursuit of keeping it, even if we know where we’re going. Why is that? I suspect God holds the responsibility, he placed “eternity in our hearts.” But we can easily get confused about that concept…
Read MoreLast Legs
Mick and I left the rest of the riders in Sisters Oregon and headed home. Mt. Shasta provided a motel room, then we rode together the next morning until he split off to Susanville, to return the bike he borrowed from his son-in-law. I headed to Placerville as the starting point to cruise along Hwy 49, through the Gold Rush towns scattered along the Sierra foothills. Windy roads, finding Mark Twain’s cabin (above pic), and exploring the funky towns made it delightful, but a long day of riding. To make the last leg easier, I planned on…
Read MoreGod: Mystery and Certainty
Our perception of God drives our connection with him. View him as legalistic—rules and fear of failing will consume us. View him as gracious—we may take advantage and miss obedience. View him as distant, and we never discover intimacy. Understanding his nature motivated a long search, attempting to determine how he can be personal and immediate and simultaneously present in every cubic centimeter of the universe. Was he…
Read MoreAspire or Achieve?
Gathered worship touches my soul, regularly. The message that challenges me to a deeper love and connection and obedience. The songs that move my emotions and spirit. Talking to fellow believers to connect with them before and after the worship time. Even the announcements. Honest, because they talk about the body of Christ doing body of Christ stuff. But I struggle, regularly, with some of the song lyrics. Not the volume, not the style, not too much repetition, but the lyrics. Why? They make me sing something as a reality that always isn’t. Just one example…
Read MoreFlawed Irony
About a week ago a FB friend posted, about how learning more made him more aware of how much he didn’t know. As an ornery contrarian, I semi-jokingly responded, “So learning leads to ignorance, right?” Thankfully, he got it, and we’re still friends. At the time though, I didn’t realize I had a similar post planned for this week, so let’s look at another angle of the principle…
Read MoreLook Closer
I suspect we all have a favorite place, one that soothes our soul and calms our spirit. Where merely being there is all we need. I discovered one of mine back in 1994: the Mount Hermon Conference center, that has led to revisits. There, walks through the redwoods not only reveal God’s love of beauty, but they enhance the spiritual tone of the conferences I’ve attended. So, in 2019, I carved out some time to take a trail down to Bean Creek. And loving the art of trout fishing…
Read MoreSituational Awareness
As part of our 45th anniversary last February, we chose to celebrate it at a time share resort in northern California’s Clear Lake, and took off from SoCal. Waze did a fine job, usually, and bypassed us off the crowded 101 in the Bay Area. We approached the appropriate exit, with a lot of backed up traffic: three lanes for normal traffic, one empty lane on the right for FasTrak. She told us to get in the FasTrak lane, but we had no transponder, and I had no desire to lose the $271 fine without one, so I slowed down in one of the three lanes. Then…I noticed a decent sized sign on the FasTrak lane…
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