The last place on earth that a political discussion should occur is on Facebook.
During the last year, I have watched what looks like a slow motion car crash as various people take to the Internet to vent their opinions about this candidate or that candidate. Seldom is there any courtesy or nobility in the conversation. It, most often, has a “don’t you get it, stupid” kind of air to it. Continue reading Facebook and Political Discussion – Part 1
The Greek word, xenos, gets a different spin in the New Testament than it does from the lips of Donald Trump or his British mini-me, Nigel Farage.
Xenos is the root of the word, xenophobia, which means fear of anything strange. It could be a strange food, a strange practice, but in today’s useage it most often refers to a fear of people who are strange to us. Continue reading Xenophobia or Hospitality?
A kiosk in the ticket area
Swipe your credit card
Check in for your flight
No TSA here
Walk immediately to the boarding gate
Take a seat among the rows
This waiting room designed for comfort
Some seats even recline
All well padded and upholstered Continue reading Waiting Room
Les was an old river rat who learned how to craft a life out of little wealth or conventional experience.
Henrietta, his wife, was a good partner because she was just as tough and creative as Les was. Sadly, Les did not treat Henrietta with the respect she was due. Like when she called up to Les while he was roofing a house, asking for some money to purchase shoes for herself. Not wanting to leave his perch, Les wadded up dollar bills and threw them down at her making her look like a bird hunting for worms. Continue reading Les and Henrietta
Never showing up where you expect
In a coffee shop or a party
Surprising in the serendipity
And the joie d’vivre..
Easy to love
Differences make no difference
Porous souls welcome you in
And invite a closeness uncommon Continue reading Friends
It was a Farmer’s Market in a large Central Valley city. A full block of fruits and vegetables, hand made baskets, dog treats, nuts, and cheese. An adjacent parking lot was completely full of cars on this Saturday morning. Shorts, tee shirts, jeans, and other casual attire were the dress code.
And there! She stood out. You couldn’t see her face or form. Black burka covering her from head to toe. Continue reading Living As An Exile
I remembered being awed when a new family started worshiping at my childhood church. They were lifetime missionaries in Africa, and they had come home in order to get nursing degrees. The degrees were part of a strategy to be better prepared to serve the African people they loved. Continue reading Playing Church
Samuel was a prophet in Israel and came to this role in the eleventh century B.C. He was the last leader of the nation before the first king, Saul, was appointed.
The times during which Samuel acted as national leader were not good times. Fraught with idolatry and rebellion, the nation repeatedly lost her way and suffered horrible consequences as a result. Continue reading Getting What You Pray For
allow \uh-lou\ vt 1 : to give permission to or for; permit: to allow a student to be absent; No swimming allowed 2 : to let have; give as one’s share; grant as one’s right: to allow a person $100 for expenses 3 : to permit by neglect, oversight, or the like: to allow a door to remain open 4 : to admit; acknowledge; concede: to allow a claim 5 : to take into consideration, as by adding or subtracting; set apart: to allow an hour for changing trains 6 : Older Use. to say; think 7 : Archaic. to approve; sanction.
Continue reading Does God Allow Evil?
People have debated the cause and purpose of suffering for centuries. Job is the person most associated with this struggle to discover why.
The book of Job is about 4 miserable friends who visit Job to be of some comfort to him. Instead they only add to his pain. “Stop assuming my guilt,” he told them. “….for I have done no wrong,” Job 6:29.
The question of suffering is never solved. No one has ever been able to say categorically that this or that is the reason suffering occurs. The best answers are simply a well-educated guess based on the character of God and the evil of our world. That said, I believe that suffering arises from the choices that human beings make in the exercise of their free will.
Continue reading Guilt by Catastrophe
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