Related to our family
Hamster wheels and treadmills.
Those two thoughts are often used to describe life when it begins to develop a momentum of its own or fails to get the user to where they need to be or desire to be. Since my short few days at the hospital last week I have taken a long, hard serious look at my life and what I need to change or at least put under the microscope. So many thoughts run through my mind as to how I arrived at this place. Continue reading Off The Treadmill To Still Waters
Yesterday it was a gathering of my family. My five children and the grandchildren. It was the culmination of a great weekend. Family.
Folks often try to put labels on family. What it means? Where it goes? What it stands for? I think we can initially define it as a group of people connected by common bloodlines. Or relatives. Those in relationship. But as is the case in my family, a blended family is not unusual. Where children might have non-biological parents. (Or conversely, parents who have children “they were not directly involved with” biologically”.) Continue reading The Power Of His Love
Am I the only one who comes from a background where there are certain scriptures I skip over? Bypass because they “irritate” me. And not for the reasons you are thinking. I am not looking for something to gloss over a portion of my life to do something “wrong”. I am talking about the ones that make me feel less than a man. Imply weakness or inadequacy. Continue reading The Struggle For Faith
This morning I awoke thinking of many things. Not to meditate on negatives or “what ifs” but to plumb the depth of my heart for love. Are people getting it? Is it there? Kind of a “how am I doing” exercise.
I lost an old friend yesterday. I received the call late last night from a friend who thought I would want to know. That was one of my thoughts this morning. Thoughts about my children and grandchildren. Thoughts about work. Continue reading What’s Love Got To Do With It? Everything!
I believe we are wasting some valuable resources in the church. We have often worked so hard to be relevant, that we have downgraded our thinking some times. We have lost some of the things that truly make the church the church. Many of those resources are the folks who went through powerful times. Impartation, meetings and revelation. Maybe they did not handle it right. Maybe others did not. But we can not live our lives as “been there-bought the tshirt” and expect results. There is a cry in the church for change. There is a cry for change in our country and in the globe. Some, perhaps many of those older folks have some keys. Continue reading This Is The Day, This Is The Day…
As a child my church experiences were different than what I live today. I heard about God. The table at the front of the church had the words “I am the bread of life” emblazoned on it. But I could not tell you an experience of God while I was there except for the Sunday morning, early on Easter. With some rain and some sleet, hardy souls climbed up the hill behind the elementary school near our church. We sang and the sun came out. That was perhaps my God experience. Continue reading The Knitting Of Hearts
Today my mom would have been 89 years old. Her legacy carries on in the lives of my children and grandchildren. They may not always know it but they get the best of her through me. When I take them places about history or science, I am reliving her life. She empowered me to think and understand. Continue reading I Don’t Wanna Grow Up
One of my dreams last night was a trip that I had to take to a small community nearby. But for some reason the way we were going to go was more of a round the mountain trip. We could go dead south(fastest), or in this case travel slightly west at which point we had a more direct route or the road that went around. For some reason I sensed the longer trip was the one, but I struggled with the idea that it was going to take more time and more miles And while the longer route was settled and okay, there was a feeling of “why”. Continue reading Why Wisdom? Why Not? Why, Why, Why
The following is something I wrote some nearly ten years ago.
When I was young I was on a camping trip and we had gone a very long way into the wilderness. And as we approached the lake I could see their was still ice in the distance. I thought, the last place I want to be is in that water. On the other hand, I had sweated myself up to the place where not being clean was high on my agenda. So, as we circled everything up and got things prepared for dinner, I decided I was going to take a swim. I went over to a little bank, perhaps 4-5 above the water and looked in and decided a shallow dive and a quick swim over to the small “beach.” Now, I will tell you, my brothers and I played hockey on a few marginally frozen ponds and going through the ice had not been “that bad.” Probably because I had neglected to remember that it had probably not included total immersion. In I went. As soon as I hit that water with the tips of my fingers, I knew that life was going to be exciting. As I plunged in I felt what could only be described as heart stopping. My swim was as short as I could make it. And let me tell you it was a rush. I was giddy, trying to think through. I got out of the water and more cold took over. Now, that was cold weather camping or winter camping. Continue reading Rejoice For God Is Here!
The swing of the pendulum. The counting of time. The force. The pull.
Yesterday as I sat in a meeting I saw a clock that was wrong. It ran slowly, out of synch. (Because it is a friend’s, I want to ask him “who does that? How do you live with that?”) My wife would tell you I am intuitive about time, whether it is getting up, how long we have been somewhere, etc.. (Ironically for me, laughter captured me and I was teleported to another dimension. I lost “time”!) Continue reading The Pull Of The Pendulum
