Call this a coincidence, call it a divine hint. Frankly, I’m not sure which, although I lean to the latter. But this topic arose twice in one day, both hitting me hard, and the repetition seemed to multiply the impact. At our North Coast Men’s Conference last Saturday, Rickie Jenkins, pastor of Southwest Community Church in Indian Wells, spoke on “The Missing Fruit,” referring to two facets of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 that we often ignore. We focus on love and joy, but our energy seems to run out by the time we get to kindness and gentleness. They’re important because they…
Read MoreChoosing Our Response
Our world seems to be growing in harshness. Language has become more coarse and abusive, just look at much of social media. Road rage is frequently on the local news, and mass shootings have increased from 269 in 2014 to 647 in 2022 (four or more shot or killed, https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/). My mantra in earlier years was “don’t get mad, just get even.” I suspect many others share that. When wounded, we strike back: verbally or physically or economically or socially. Our search for “justice” merely increases bad behavior. And yes, that has
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Rock Creek Campsite
Father's Day
Guess it’s not too late to keep celebrating Father’s Day. About two weeks earlier, COVID-19 forced us to scrub a timeshare trip to Phoenix that would have begun on Father’s Day, and since the week was blocked out already, I decided to take a restorative trip to Rock Creek in the Sierras, my favorite trout stream. Driving up on Highway 395, I decided to dedicate the trip to Dad. Here’s why…
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Ballots or Bombs
Isn't this a great season, as the upcoming national election kicks off, almost two years early? The politicking brings out our best and worst, some thoughtful comments intended to persuade the marking of ballots, along with verbal bombs with asinine and degrading and insulting comments about the "other" side. Can't help but love it, right? Only if you're ...
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