Chewing gum stuck to the shoe or under a chair once occupied a person’s mouth. And, the more that other pieces of gum congregate with it the more noxious it becomes. Like at the Pike Place Gum Wall in Seattle.
A used Kleenex blowing down the street on a windy day should only be touched with the edges of one’s fingernails, certainly not with the skin of the fingers. Who knows what was blown into the absorbent sheet. Continue reading Treated Like Used Gum
A business owner named Ray, looking for help with a project at his business, went to the local unemployment office to hire a worker.
When he arrived at the office he found two men, Bill and Sam waiting for work. Ray explained his project, what he was willing to pay, and the requirements of the job. In separate interviews, each man explained his respective job qualifications and experience, and both men seemed equally qualified for the job. Continue reading A Parable
Job was a wealthy man, but in a course of quick and awful events he lost it all. Everything — children, livestock, servants, and property.
Job’s response to the loss was to say, “I was born naked, and I will leave this world naked,” Job 1:21. More modern versions of this saying are, “There are no pockets in a shroud,” or “There’s no U-Haul trailer behind a hearse.” Continue reading No Pockets in a Shroud
The president began the meeting with, “We can’t do any business because we don’t have a quorum.”
It has happened before. A carefully constructed agenda and set of to-do’s was turned into just an interesting conversation. The meeting ended with nothing getting done in spite of the fact that the organizational clock was ticking.
Those who didn’t attend had lots of reasons. Worked spilled over into the meeting time. School called to ask a parent to attend to a sick child. Second thoughts about belonging to our group. Too many commitments and not enough time. All legitimate reasons. But all shutting down the actions of the group. Continue reading Letting People Down
The Bible is an ancient anthology comprised of 66 books, written by approximately 40 writers over a period of around 1600 years.
Challenges are inevitable when attempting to read a collection of writings spanning such a large period of time and cultural contexts. In many respects, reading the Bible is like listening to half of a phone conversation or reading a 100-year-old letter buried in a box of family souvenirs.
There have been good and bad attempts at understanding the Bible’s place in our lives. The awful Jonestown cult is a good example of interpretation gone wrong. Ditto the Branch Davidians of Waco, Texas. There’s no end to the craziness. Continue reading How To Avoid Goofy Interpretations
“No problem” seems to have replaced “you’re welcome” as a response to the common expression of gratitude, “Thank you.” Since communication is a two-way proposition, “no problem” has implications for the hearer.
“It didn’t cost me anything.” “No big deal.” “If it had been too difficult or costly, I may not have done it.”
“It was easy to do.” “I would have done it for anyone.” “I didn’t think about it too much.”
“No sweat.” “Anyone could have done it.” “Nothing particularly important happened; no biggee.”
Continue reading It’s no problem!
The Butterfly Effect is an idea that has been thought about and studied since the 1800’s by both scientists and science fiction writers. The Butterfly Effect describes a very small effect, such as a butterfly flapping its wings in one place, which in later developments causes a hurricane half way around the world.
People who study highway traffic patterns observe similar events. A car far ahead hits his brakes which radiates back though the column of cars behind him. What was once a fast-moving column of cars turns into a long line of red lights. What seems like a small thing has far-reaching consequences. Continue reading The Butterfly Effect
On August 5, 2010, 33 miners were trapped 2,000 feet below ground at the San Jose mine in Chile’s Atacama Desert. Seventeen days passed without any contact with the surface. In darkness. Without fresh air. Without the sun. Without friends and family. Without fresh food.
On the surface, rescuers were giving the miners a 2% chance of deliverance, and they were predicting a 4-month long effort. It was pretty hopeless looking by any measure. Continue reading The Condition Is Hopeless
Ephesus was a city in ancient Turkey, and it was the location of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, a colossal temple to the goddess Diana, also called Artemis.
Having a temple to one of the gods in your town was like being near Yosemite or the Eiffel Tower. People flock to such sites fora variety of reasons – religious and secular.
Around the Diana/Artemis’ temple various sorts of tourist vendors cropped up peddling likenesses of the many-breasted Diana. “Get your genuine statue of Artemis. You’ll love having this silver ornament on your mantel for all your guests to see. Pray to her when you’re about to give birth or go on a hunting trip. The goddess of women and hunting will help you.” Continue reading Great is Diana!
I’ve noticed that there is a common desire on the part of humans to have a divine imprimatur on everything we do, be that a car purchase or a job selection or a person married. On the face of it, this seems like a good thing – to want to make divine choices.
But sometimes we just want God or god/s to approve our choices and leave us alone.
This god-desire may be found across the breadth of human opinion and experience. Conservatives and liberals, southerners and northerners, religious and non-religious, believers and unbelievers – all want to believe that something or someone affirms them. Continue reading I notice that you are very religious…
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