Learning
Growth
Unity
Try Acting Like a Baby
These days offer plenty of reasons to be fearful, angry and just generally unsettled. Today being election day, so much of what we look to for stability shakes under the stresses of life, writ large, punctuated by a hurricane or two, and wars across the globe. In days like these, it’s good for Jesus-followers to remember, prune back, and press forward.
How to Furnish Hope
Megan Martin and her son showed up at our place back when Dan and I were first married. We had sorted through our duplicate household items, and Megan was there to pick up the excess home furnishings.
What Happens After?
So, the other day while driving to do errands, I had the radio tuned to a news station that was, so typically, talking about the election now only days away. The host and commentator analyzed the latest polling numbers, ground games, hidden voters, potential surprises that might still come and came to the amazing conclusion that the presidency is either candidate’s to win…I know, stunning.
Feast Days
I recently learned that I missed the Feast Day for George Muller back in September. He is celebrated by many as a champion of the poor through intercession and action. And I’ll bet plenty of believers don’t know him at all, but will be encouraged by his life and work.
The Secret to the Dodgers’ Success
I have a deep love for our national pastime. Baseball has been instrumental in shaping me, and it continues to impact me today. I joke often about how God is a baseball fan. He created the heavens and the earth in the “big inning”, and in Ecclesiastes 12:6, we are told to remember God before the pitcher is shattered in spring training (loosely translated).
Bolted into the Rock
When Claudia finished her sewing challenge for school girls in Zambia, I told her we needed to get out of Dodge for a bit. So, after teaching class Sunday at church, we skipped the service, bolted for the car and pointed it south, feeling like kids on the first day of summer vacation.
Jaded Expectations
In a conversation with my daughter and son-in-law around their dining table, I tried to explain how the years of hard news and disappointments affected my outlook. As sorrowful events piled one on top of the other—like so many crushed, stacked cars in a junkyard—I eventually became accustomed to the brokenness. I still believed God could do anything, anything. Just not for me
The Grand Staircase: Theological Musings and Observations from the Edge of the Colorado Plateau
Recently, my wife Robin and I spent over a week camping in Zion National Park in southwest Utah. It’s a trip we’ve planned for years but unforeseen events prevented it from happening. But it did happen this year and we enjoyed hiking, bicycling and sightseeing in this spectacular desert landscape.
Pilgrimage
Not having been raised in a church-going home, when my faith journey began in high school through Young Life, all this Jesus stuff was new. Looking back on those days through high school and college (thankfully OSU was taking anyone in those days who could fog a mirror or I never would have gotten in), I sponged up language and beliefs and ways of doing faith as fast as I could. And I’m sure my family and friends thought I’d gone off the deep end.
When the Adventure Leads Home
We hiked every day, even on the couple of intermittent-rain days. The reward for putting up with the wetness was a dusting of snow on the mountains the next day. Dan dragged me out of bed before sunrise—twice—so we could catch the alpenglow. If you’ve never seen pink frosting on a mountaintop, you need to get out more.
Celebrating While There’s Still Life
“It’s very rare.” My friend, Howard, called on his drive home from Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. “And fast-growing.”
Howard’s cancer diagnosis came out of the blue. “They’re saying a matter of weeks.” I was stunned. Everyone was stunned.
Lessons from a Montana Fly-Fishing Guide
Over 20 years ago, I attended a seminar by legendary Bighorn River flyfishing guide Bob Krumm. Montana’s Bighorn is itself legendary, producing large, willing brown and rainbow trout.
Krumm addressed the topic, “How to Become a Successful Fishing Guide”, but much of what he said applies to Jesus followers. I liked his talk so much I emailed Bob and asked if he would send me a transcript. What follows is my synopsis and comments on Krumm’s thoughts.
When a King Descended
We Jesus followers talk often and sing about the love of God, how it stands sentry at the gate of his essence, how it gives form to all the rest of his attributes, and how because of it we can know God and walk with him throughout our days.
A Missionary looks at 1 Corinthians 13
Though I speak with the tongue of a national, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
Living in Extreme Days
The most bittersweet time of year is upon us—the end of long warm days and beginning of crisp dark mornings. What better time of year than autumn to remind us of the sad theological concept called, “the fall.” And what better way to remind us of our sin condition than the ubiquitous 8”x14” campaign postcards we receive in the mail every two Septembers.
Let’s Talk Hope
So, let’s talk hope. Not wishful thinking, but thinking with a ready and steady mind that is fixed on the grace here and now that will be fulfilled in its time. Each day we train our thoughts and actions to choose to be a bit more like Jesus and a bit less like the world we left behind.
Making the Most of Detours
While relocating from Oregon to southern California, I was escorted off the Pacific Coast Highway by two patrol cars with flashing lights. I’m blaming it on my son, Jeremy. He recommended a jog over to the coastal highway from the 101.
Road Song
When the Jews, for generations, traveled to Jerusalem for the major feasts throughout the year, it must have been quite an effort. Imagine corralling your family, closing up your house and setting off to meet with God and his people at the center for all of their worship and sacrifice, the Temple in Jerusalem.
Conversations With a 14-year-old Boy
Our grandson, William, spent a few days with us recently. When all the grands are together, there is rowdy fun. But one grandchild at a time provides the unique opportunity for deeper conversations and greater bonding.
Coexist
I sat in a coffee shop one morning and saw a “Coexist” bumper sticker on a car in the parking lot. As a radical committed Christian who has spent years in Muslim evangelism, I fully agree with the concept of "coexist", of accepting others the way they are. We should definitely do that.