Exceptionally low self-worth plagued my early years. In elementary school, life lost so much joy I also lost laughter for several months. In high school, primarily only the permanence of suicide kept that from being tried. In college, I learned how to gold medal in competition—with others. No Olympic events, just outdoing others to make myself better. You see, if…
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Reflections on a Life Well Lived
Almost a year ago, my good friend John Southwood and I journeyed north to the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. John had a book concept—on the much-needed topic of integrity, based on Job. Not long after, some issues arose that the doctors diagnosed as brain cancer. Just last Saturday, that cancer took John’s physical life even as he received a full healing. Yeah, I’m a bit jealous, but my day will come. Many of you knew John, many of you prayed for him this year and I so appreciate that. Our lives have been entwined since…
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image by Pedal to the Medal Cycling
Outdo One Another
John and his Harley D met me and my Goldwing at the 76 station, destination west to the mountains and coast. Ironically, winter gives the best riding in SoCal. Winter rains turn the golden hills of CA (insert dead grass here) into lush and green wild grasses. Our route: where Rancho California Rd enters the mountains, joins De Luz road where the creek crosses seven times. Well, that happens in wet years. This one is wet enough to bring the green, but not much water. Oaks, horse ranches and hills slowed us down enough to enjoy the view, the bikes kept us moving at a good pace where we could enjoy the marriage of road, rider, and bike. We may have left the ages of high testosterone and sport bikes, but no one passed us. But about ten miles in…
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image by silvertoneworld
Rock Star!
The guitar in that pic above was to be my ticket to fame and fortune. Determined to become the next big rock star, back in high school I bought a guitar. A Sears Silvertone, black with an orange starburst . Pretty cheap, about $25. My good friend Ken and I began practicing, and the first obstacle emerged. I couldn’t tune the blasted instrument! Oh, I knew where to press the strings and frets to match the tones of adjacent strings, but my ear couldn’t hear the differences. A minor obstacle, but…
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image from Los Angeles Times
Who's the Best?
Baseball’s heart throbs with competition. MVP, Cy Young, World Series. But probe below the surface, because cooperation between team members, complementing one another, and wise managing that puts each the area of their strength, provides the foundation for winning baseball. Cooperation within the team, competition without. And perhaps that gives us a metaphor for the church, because…
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Failure?
With great anticipation, I made a Facebook post last week. Yeah, I skipped the blog post, but my grandson Josh and I were on our way to climb Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak in the lower 48 states. So I put up a pic of our goal, Mt. Whitney, at 14,508 feet. It's above. Under it is Trail Camp, at 12,000 ft. the last stop before Whitney. Understand my eagerness to climb it.
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Gold Medals
Exceptionally low self-worth plagued my early years. In elementary school, life lost so much joy I also lost laughter for several months. In high school, primarily only the permanence of suicide kept that from being tried. In college, I learned how to gold medal in competition—with others.
Read More