With a roar of motors from the bikes above, we pulled out of the church at 8 AM. The destination: Julian, an old west mining town in San Diego County. The first prime part of the ride: South Grade Road on Palomar Mtn. Some experts claim this and the Tail of the Dragon at Deal’s Gap in North Carolina lay title to the most twisty and difficult biker roads in America.We stopped at ...
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image by Leilani Smith
Beauty in Hard Times
As many of you know, despite the abundant rain this last winter in NoCal, the drought continues in SoCal. A friend and former fellow teacher, Leilani Smith, started an interesting Facebook dialogue a week ago that revealed a truth of growing in Christ, right at the end. She posted a series of pics taken on a hike she took, including the one above, and this conversation ensued.
Leilani: So much sculpture on the trail this morning!
Me (as one who tries to see a spiritual hook in everything): The quality of the art ...
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A Tale of Two Brushes
I’d just finished painting all the walls, two coats with a quality paint. The next step: to apply white enamel to the baseboards to set off the new tan walls, so I grabbed the handy and thoroughly cleaned 3” Purdy brush I’d used on the kitchen enamel. That’s the one on the right in the pic. It worked well for the first 20’, but began to hold more paint than I could scrape off, and it began to drip onto the new tile floors. Not a good thing. And, once again, that reaffirmed what’s close to an absolute truth...
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image by cbc.ca
Saved?
Let's do some fun, and brief, theology, in a way that may explode your beliefs about being saved. The theological word: soteriology, or the more common word: salvation. What is it? Getting into heaven? Staying out of hell? Good news, we get more than we often imagine.
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image from Psychology Today
Why Are We Here?
We find hints of God everywhere, even in Parade magazine, and some tantalize us with their implications. Marilyn vos Savant, whom Guinness' records as having the highest recorded IQ score, responded in her column to a question from a fellow Mensa member (Mensa members must have an IQ in the top 2%). The question had been discussed in the reader's group, "Why are we here?" Savant replied, "I think it depends on ...
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image by worldinprayer.org
A Prayer Paradox?
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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image by wikihow.com
Me? Make a Mistake? No Way!
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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image by insidejimmydevioushead.wordpress.com
A Good Christian?
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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