Blog
image from dw.com
Dan Hicks, the NBC announcer for the Olympics women’s super-G, declared, “It’s Anna Veith of Austria who repeats as Olympic super-G champion!” After a commercial, NBC went to figure skating. The result pleased me; that made four consecutive gold medals in that event for Austria. I appreciate talent, hard work, and diligence, and Austria’s alpine program shows that. At least, it appeared that way—NBC said so. But...
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image by world-first.co.uk
Some time back in a small group, a woman asked another who was in her eighth month of pregnancy, how she was doing. “I’m done. I just want this over. I don’t want to be pregnant anymore.” Some qualifications. I have no idea if all or most or some or maybe only this pregnant woman feel this way. I’m a guy. Never been pregnant. But I get...
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Kootenay Ferry, across Kootenay Lake
Our 2017 destination: Banff, Canada. The weather: rain. All over. We rode east through Washington, skirting the Canadian border. Mick’s bucket list included Banff, but the weather there was colder and wetter than where we were. Until we hit Sandpoint, and the rain and cold grew. We sheltered in place at a Sandpoint motel, trying to wait it out. When…
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image by The Syrophoenician Woman
Last week’s post explored how our harsh language can damage others and turn people off to God, so let’s flip the coin to see how we might build a positive view of him in our society. No street preaching of “Turn or Burn.” No need for a degree in defending the gospel. No memorized testimonies that may not relate to our listeners. Instead…
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image by cohesionart.com
Two events recently combined to spark this post. A fellow author, let’s call him Max, wrote a thoughtful article about the effectiveness of engaging in Facebook discussions that often have a hostile, demeaning tone. At the same time, another Facebook friend cautioned her friends that if they “badmouthed” those politicians she favored, she would unfriend them. When asked to clarify bad mouthing, she strongly bad mouthed the other side. Yes, she claims Jesus as Savior and Lord, but missed seeing...
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A long time friend, Sue Thornburg Fellows, posted the above pic on FB, and I commented with a simple “Lemonade!” Her husband responded with “????”, and I quoted the cliché, “When life gives you lemons (cancer), make lemonade (ear warmers).” Sue has battled cancer, and decided to make lemonade. Here’s her story, in her words.
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I’m writing a new devotional book about motorcycles, Easy Riding, on the lessons we learn. About of half of the chapters are taken from Unconventional posts, expanded and revised from the typical 400 to 600 words up to 1,000. One chapter, Addictions, started as the shortest at 300 words, and I struggled to increase it. One option—adding more words to each paragraph merely increased words, not content. Another option of adding a new section didn’t fit the flow. All my efforts merely revealed that what worked...
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Cave Campground, Hat Creek
Busyness has invaded our lives. Or, maybe we’ve opened the door, widely, in pursuit of wealth and success and leisure and affirmation of our worth. A news article recently wrote that 70% of all workers average less than 8 hours of sleep each night, and with that, productivity drops. Those of us in Southern California especially deal with this, but the problem touches all of America. I’m no exception—even in retirement I have a multitude of projects on the list. I almost wonder what I’ll do when the list gets completed. That’s part of the reason ...
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