Disoriented

Tim Riter February 25, 2019

I began skiing in my early twenties at the old Blue Ridge Ski area in SoCal, and then thought that our California Concrete—heavy, icy, and packed—was normal. Then I moved to Taos and discovered powder. Totally different than California Concrete: so dry you could hardly pack it into a snowball, so soft you’d sink a foot deep as your skis compressed the fluffy cotton. One night Taos got inundated with over four feet of snow so I grabbed my ski gear and headed up the mountain.I exulted in unweighting and making S turns, until…

Gear Up!

Tim Riter February 18, 2019

I’ve played a lot of football. Pickup tackle games in HS and college and later, wearing just T shirts and shorts. Intramural in college, even several seasons in a competitive flag league in my mid 50s. But the pic above depicts a different way to play football. In my mid 40s, Temecula had the Over the Hill Pigskin Shoot Out, where guys over 30 strapped on pads and played for charity. The pic above was the first game—and the first time I…

A Challenge

Tim Riter February 4, 2019

Graham Staines left his Australian homeland in 1965 to minister to the least in India—the lepers and tribal poor. His goal: to demonstrate God’s love. The Least of These, a film based on his life, premiered this week: showing him tending the wounds of lepers, traveling to jungle camps. Even more, he contributed to translating the New Testament into the Ho language of India, and proofread the entire text. He met Jesus often along the way, since …

Shattered

Tim Riter January 21, 2019

Sheila and I have built a tradition of a day trip on our birthdays. In May, we usually hit the beach or coast. For her. For January, I choose the mountains, usually wherever we get the most snow. This year, four days of storms preceded the day, but the storms stayed in liquid form. So between Big Bear and Julian and Idyllwild, I went with the latter. The Cranston Fire devastated the region last summer so I wanted to discover the extent of the damage, hit the local candy store and our favorite mountain restaurant. South of town…

Rock Star!

Tim Riter January 14, 2019

The guitar in that pic above was to be my ticket to fame and fortune. Determined to become the next big rock star, back in high school I bought a guitar. A Sears Silvertone, black with an orange starburst . Pretty cheap, about $25. My good friend Ken and I began practicing, and the first obstacle emerged. I couldn’t tune the blasted instrument! Oh, I knew where to press the strings and frets to match the tones of adjacent strings, but my ear couldn’t hear the differences. A minor obstacle, but…

Grace and Truth

Tim Riter January 7, 2019

In the spiritual journey, people tend to slide toward the extremes. Emphasizing grace, that we’re forgiven , regardless, and minimize the truth that faith has a hard edge with consequences. Or emphasizing truth, that what God said matters, that bad choices have consequences. The former run the risk of sloppy agape, the latter lean to legalism and rigidity. Both miss key elements of Jesus. Let’s find how to combine those.

Time to Quit?

Tim Riter December 31, 2018

Knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em only comes not only from a lot of fishing but a lot of living, a lot of analyzing, and even then mistakes occur. I wish I’d learned this principle of life earlier. As pastor of one church, I …

Image and Headline from Canadian Press and Colin Perkel

Atheist Pastor Keeps Her Job

Tim Riter December 17, 2018

“Atheist Pastor Keeps Her Job” Fake news? Sadly no. The headline on cp24.com was all too true. Before a trial for heresy began, Rev. Gretta Vosper, the church she pastors in Toronto, and the denomination reached a settlement, leaving her free to pastor the church. The Right Rev. Richard Bott, head of the United Church in Canada, proclaimed his pleasure…

Unconventional

Old Faith, New Following