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image from mirror.co.uk
I’m a strange cocktail of belief and unbelief. Of stunning spiritual successes and just as stunning descents and stretches of unholy comfort. From decades of ministry and hundreds of conversations, I suspect the father and I…
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image from Kevin Wing
Rich began riding bikes a few years before me, on a Honda 350. I soon bought a similar one, then Rich moved up to a larger ride, the Harley Super Glide. Yeah, a few decades back. We’d rag on each other’s bikes—Rich defending Harleys, me defending Hondas. Once his wife thought we were ready to break out the fists, but it was a friendly rivalry. Much like the comparison in the pic above of a Harley and a Honda. So when he T-boned me in Blythe, CA, it was accidental, right? We’d…
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Painting by Leilani Strong Smith
The bad news arrived in Grants NM, nighttime. Appropriate. In the midst of a two-week bike trip with friends, Jerry and I received word that key family friends and church members had passed. Totally separate events and people, but we each had to abort the ride. The next AM we left Mick and Tom behind and headed the over 700 miles to SoCal across the desert, with temps nearing 118. Beaten by the heat, we stopped for gas in Needles, after 455 miles, with 270 left. I remember …
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image from wabc-tv.com
Welcome to Day 4, our journey’s end. Christmas has come! We’ve seen Jesus as a humble human, a conquering king, a reconciler. At the core—Jesus is God’s gift to us. A gift so great we can get lost in him. A gift so great it can break the back …
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image from stevenaitchison.co.uk
Christmas “split time” in a sense—we date our years from Jesus’ birth. It sparked a worldwide faith. At the core of those changes, we find a Jesus who entered the world to be a reconciler. To bring often radically people together. That had to begin with…
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image from Loving the Word with the MudPreacher
Jesus first came as a human. As a human, he lived and died. Unlike most, he came back to life before returning to heaven. The baby Jesus was safe and cute. Cuddly. Adorable. But on his second coming, we’ll see him as a conquering king. Halfway through the carol we read, “The King of Kings salvation brings, let loving hearts enthrone Him. This, this is Christ the King.” No longer…
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image from Sisters of Carmel
Last year, “Unconventional” became Advent: preparing us for the radical entry of the divine into the human world, with brief thoughts on the four days leading up to Christmas. That seemed to resonate, so let’s explore one of the most haunting carols and give four answers to the question, “What Child is This?” Short posts to help you focus on one aspect of Jesus’ entry on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Here’s the first, on…
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Last week, Welk Resorts “gifted” us with two free nights—IF we submitted to a one-hour sales presentation. Sheila’s highlight: hitting the shops along El Paseo in Palm Desert on our last day. Yeah, she succumbed to temptation. My highlight: spending those two hours ambling from art gallery to gallery. In the Elena Bulatova Fine Art Gallery, I turned a corner and saw a unique pic of Marilyn Monroe—a crush from my junior high days. I stepped to the center of the painting, and it became…
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