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Decades back I served a church in Lawndale as the college/career pastor, and although many of us have moved away from the South Bay, Facebook allows us to reconnect. One member of the group, Sheree Munday Wright, PMed a question which led to an intriguing discussion on a paradox in prayer. With her permission I'm sharing part of our discussion."Tim, please explain the difference between perseverance in prayer and ...
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After last week's post "A Good Christian?" went up, a good friend (and a good Christian), Kim Pinnell, sent a private message saying I made a mistake. "How so?" I doubtfully replied.
"You gave three steps in becoming a good Christian, right? Why did you ..."
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Not long back, a guy I meet with every couple of weeks asked a question whose simplicity was only exceeded by its complexity. "What does it mean to be a good Christian?"
Jokingly, in response to the latter trait, I replied, "In five words or less?"
Jim, recognizing the humor said, "Sure!"
I briefly pondered and responded...
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Only the thin line of hair suggests the pic above is not an asteroid-pocked Martian landscape. But that was my forehead just two weeks ago. Three skin cancers over 20 years have made me an habitué of dermatologists who look for precancerous hard spots on my skin. The last time, she took a look, ran her fingers over my face, neck and arms, and gave up. "You have too many actinic keratoses for me to freeze. I want to prescribe a cream, Fluorouracil, that...
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One entire day last week my wife and I shopped. For lighting fixtures for our bath and kitchen. Then, afternoon rush hour traffic in north San Diego County added a slow hour to our return. Likely one of the most exciting days of my life. So, to celebrate the joy, we mixed a couple of margaritas and relaxed by our waterfall to go over the day. Soon several birds landed on the fence behind the waterfall, and the count grew to seven. Cautious, wanting a bath, but leery of ...
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Plans sometimes get changed. Radically. My Sierra plans were to fish until late Friday, then to head home and miss the Friday traffic. The snow in the pic above forced a revision. Waking to 2" of snow in my campground made outdoor cooking problematic, so I threw all my wet gear in the back of the truck and headed home. Early. Not much later I walked into a Mickey D's in Lone Pine for coffee, only to meet a middle aged guy in shorts and a hoodie, "Are you a local?" ...
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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...
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Crosspoint in the Vines
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...
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