Near death experiences fascinate us. Whether it’s the recent books and movies Heaven is for Real or the earlier 90 Minutes in Heaven, we yearn for evidence for eternal life. Although the Bible says that, we often want more. But. Consider with me that we may short change the essence of eternal life.
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Mark Twain cabin by Wikimedia.com
Last Legs
Mick and I left the rest of the riders in Sisters OR 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 in the pic), and exploring the funky towns made it a long day until I found ...
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image by bio.miami.edu
Starting Fresh. Again
The cushy beds in the tent trailer in Convict Lake’s campground claimed my son-in-law and grandson as I rose alone at early dawn to entice the trout in the creek. Yes, I caught a few. But better than the rainbows was the reminder of God’s patience. Mountain mornings bring a freshness unique to them. I enjoy the newness as I ride my Honda to work most mornings, but being immersed in God’s world makes it more vivid, more encompassing, more ...
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The Curse of Optimism
Long ago, I determined to look on the bright side of life. Earlier focusing on the dark side and possible problems and what others thought of me led to contemplations of suicide. My own. To balance my natural negative take...
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A Passionate Pursuit--1
Let’s begin a regular, continuing topic, OK? Once a month we’ll explore how much value God has, or doesn’t have, in our lives. Who is he? What’s he like? What does a connection with him look like? How can we craft that? I’m convinced that we need to identify those questions because our view of God, or the lack of it, will shape our lives. So this first post will start the process with two positions that represent the ends of the spiritual spectrum. Several years ago, a woman walked into Haagen-Dazs, and noticed Paul Newman...
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Dancing with the Devil
For too long, I justified myself with the excuse that dancing with the devil was justifiable if I didn’t slow dance. I’d edge as close to overt sin as I could without stepping over the line. Close enough to get some pleasure, but not too close to get trapped, to have guilt overwhelm the good times. In high school days, how much physical contact with girls was acceptable before it became sin? That became more subtle as an adult, how much information could I withhold, without actually lying, to give myself an advantage? Or, while remaining a nice guy, what balance should I strike between serving others and using others to serve myself? These are just a few of all those cases I could list.
That was fast dancing with the devil.
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Habituated
No, this may not qualify as unusual, but my email account got hacked. A friend forwarded an email he had received “from me,” with a link that obviously wasn’t from me. So, I changed the password that I’d kept for a dozen years, with just a few minor, rememberable tweaks, into a longer more exceptional one.
So, for the last two weeks, 90% of the times I sign in to my email...
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Sometimes You Win, Sometimes...
Some locals claim the upper Sacramento River, right under the I-5 bridge in Dunsmuir, may yield the best trout fishing in California. Pines creep right down to the water’s edge of the gorgeous stream, yet leave enough space to cast and still not get hung up. Too often, anyway!
I’m not sure about the quality of fishing, but I did come to doubt the fisherman’s rationale, “The worst day fishing beats the best day working.”
I’d caught one and lost another when...
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