After four years of spiritual searching and an inability to make needed changes on my own, I surrendered control of my life to the only being worthy of it. I certainly didn’t meet that standard. The ride since has been wild. I’ve pastored churches and sinned and grown, written books and sinned and grown, taught at Christian universities and high schools and sinned and grown, retired from full time work and sinned and grown. And the further I travel…
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Brushy Streams
In streams like this, I lost countless hooks by allowing the line to drift too freely, catching a lot of branches and roots, both under and above water. Hundreds of times wild roses attracted my line like a magnet, requiring the loss of precious trout time to untangle the bird’s nest. Hundreds of wild trout darted to safety when I trod too hard, or unknowingly let my shadow cross the creek, or when I let the bait land too hard on the water. And fisherfolk face…
Read MoreExulting in Guilt
I don’t get sin. Oh, I do it. And I like the classic definition of missing the mark. Not hitting the center of the target may not please God, but it doesn’t end the world. So why does God view sin as so…well, sinful? Worthy of death? Separation? He’s always required a life for us to gain forgiveness, either the earlier annual animal sacrifice, or that of his Son, Jesus. He doesn’t…
Read MoreAnticipating Adversity
Toward the end of the often-disastrous 2020, social media got flooded with memes and posts and comments expressing joy that the crappy year would soon end with 2021. That may explain why I so liked the above meme put up by Jeff Boyer. 2021 won’t fully flush out 2020, and some of the crap will continue to need wiping away. The vaccine rollout has started, but slowly; the cases and hospitalizations have reached all time highs. Yes, we’ll likely beat it, but…
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The Fine Art of Doing Nothing
Back in May of 2020, COVID provided an unexpected opportunity. I had a week carved out to ride my bike to Estes Park CO and teach at a writing conference, then COVID cancelled it. So I subbed in a trip to my beloved Sierras to pull out some trout. I rediscovered why we call it fishing, not catching, because the catching was below mediocre. Maybe pathetic. And from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, it almost totally died. I grew sad…
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image by thereseimages.com
Slowing Our Spirit: Peace
In my lifetime of 72 years, I’ve seen the pace of life increase dramatically. Traffic congestion has almost ruined southern California. The cost of housing has skyrocketed, usually requiring two income families to make it. COVID and our partisan political divide add stress. Commercials and keeping up with others increase our obsession with having newer and better stuff. So how do we respond? We worry. We stress. The pressure overwhelms us. And that worry often pushes God out of the picture—it’s up to us to deal with all this. But…
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Image from snapclicksupply.com
Transcending These Times: Joy
Hard times to be happy, aren’t they? COVID: the deaths and shutdowns. Partisan politics: the strife and putdowns. Economic difficulties: job loss and uncertainty. But perhaps we’re seeking solace in the wrong spot. Happiness derives from what’s happening: good times make us happy, bad make us sad. And these times qualify as bad, in so many ways. So, as we prepare for Christmas, let’s change our focus from happiness to…
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image from snapclicksupply.com
Getting Beyond Ourselves: Love
So, looking back to Monday’s post, how do we maximize our opportunities for Jesus to show up unexpectedly? Perhaps by striking, hard, at the first fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love.” Nothing so immobilizes Satan and activates Jesus as a commitment to transcend our innate self-centeredness by opening our lives to love. The more we love, the more open we are to the God who loves. But…
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