Many divide people into 2 groups: old-young, smart-stupid, lazy-motivated, and more. Kind of like the above quote, which I have no clue what he means. While sounding profound, these distinctions typically provide a simplistic view of life and humanity. BUT, God himself places people in numerical categories, so let's explore that just a bit...
Read MoreRelentless Seeking
In an almost New Testament manner, our church has a satellite campus at a winery east of Temecula. The pic above shows the view the gathered believers have during worship. This last Sunday, just after the sermon began, a small, yellow-breasted bird flew up to the window, beating his wings trying to get in. Tiring, he flew back to a grapevine branch, rested, then resumed his attempts to enter God's presence. After a few moments he tired, returned to the branch, rested again, only to head to the window. What a metaphor for seeking intimacy with God! Do we...
Read MoreSuck It Up
Life can suck us dry. Home life. Work life. Economic life. Family life. Yeah, the list can go on. We get exhausted and have little to give. We need a break, some rest, like the lion above. A time to refill spiritually, emotionally, physically, relationally. But we can't seem to find, or create, a break in the fast pace. Even so, sometimes we need to suck it up. Not always, but sometimes. Here's why...
Read MoreSudoku Spirituality
Years back, one of my students got me hooked. On Sudoku. During study hall he pulled out a puzzle book and I wandered over, and that's all it took. The pic above shows a puzzle, and for those not aware of Sudoku requirements, you enter the numbers 1-9 in each box of 9 spaces, in each row and column, without any duplicates. You begin with some numbers filled in and you do the rest. Every possible number candidate gets placed in a box, then you ...
Read MorePost Easter Ponderings
Hard times and trouble and frustrating people seem imbedded in my life. I suspect you share the same condition. My high sense of justice merely compounds this, and serves as a strength and a weakness. I care about those taken advantage of, who get treated unfairly. Rightly, I want to support and encourage them and take their side. That's the strength side of the justice coin. The weakness occurs when ...
Read MoreNice News About the Blog
After months of faithful readers and a semi-disfunctional blog, Zak Erving of Spark Punk fixed the non-working subscribe feature. So now, if you'd like an email notice of each new blog post, just hit the subscribe button and enter your email address. And, feel free to pass the news on!
Changes and Mistakes
Funny how some changes and mistakes can benefit us. Although a regular at the Mount Hermon Christian Writers conference near Santa Cruz, I missed the last seven years. However, my confidence never dimmed regarding directions, so I left the map at home. Never even glanced at it. A well-worn route. But Palm Sunday came early this year, right at the switch to Daylight Savings Time, and the conference changed its close from lunch to a 7:15 breakfast, so I left in the darkness at 6 AM, hoping to beat the metro LA afternoon traffic. Those changes led to my mistake...
Read MoreMount Hermon
As I put together this post on Wednesday, I'm getting ready. The Mustang is gassed, soon to be cleaned. A case of clothes soon to be filled, then all packed in securely so cruising the coast with the convertible top down won't blow anything out--except worries and cares and stress. As you read this, starting Monday, the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference will come close to its conclusion. Set in the redwoods just above Santa Cruz
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