My life, my vocation, my identity, and the church have always been intertwined. I finally came to the realization that somehow these things had to be unwound. Being my vocation was just too painful. My emotions, sense of worth, and well being would rise and fall like the tide, depending on how… Continue reading
There are some things I look for when hiring a plumber. I want to know if he knows what he is doing and if he is good at it. I want to know if he is honest, going to show up on time, do quality work, not leave a mess,… Continue reading
This post is part of a synchroblog, entitled, Choosing my Religion. The participating writers are answering the question, “If you could change to any other religion in the world (other than Christianity), which would you choose and why?” The links to their contributions are posted at the end of this post. I am cheating. I… Continue reading
We live really close to Wisconsin (a block and a half away). The state is home to Reince Priebus, Chair of the Republican national Committee and Paul Ryan Republican Vice Presidential nominee. So, our geography, the campaign news reports, and the political conventions have me thinking about politics. The word, politics… Continue reading
Last Saturday, Patty I were selling Beadmomma jewelry (my wife’s company) at a local farmer’s market. It is a beautiful location on Lake Michigan, with sailboats in their slips just a few yards behind us, a historical lighthouse visible as we looked down the street just across an inlet, and museums along the way.… Continue reading
I wish Peter Faulk were still living and wearing his crumbled Colombo trench coat. I would love to hear him approach some church leaders at a convention and say, “Excuse me, sir. Just one more question. Did Jesus come to start a religion?” Religions have sets of beliefs that its… Continue reading
I have to admit that I have been itching to write about the hoopla surrounding Chic-fil-a and homosexuality. Based on what I know about the story, my conclusions are rather clear. Everybody has a right to their opinion. That means Don Cathy, the CEO of Chic-fil-a, a privately held company,… Continue reading
We have recently been to a couple of huge area festivals that attract thousands, the Strawberry Festival in Cedarburg, Wisconsin and Fish Day in Port Washington, Wisconsin. The Strawberry Festival in a massive array of all kinds of vendors taking up several blocks of charming, historical downtown Cedarburg. There is… Continue reading
Many years ago, I heard a radio preacher say, the goal of the Christian life is to sin less. When I was young (and more optimistic) it made sense to me. After all, we are to become more like God and he is holy. So, we should, at least, be… Continue reading
I am an analytical, process-oriented person who sees the value of plans and systems, but I am increasingly reverting back to the “impatience” of my youth. I don’t really think it is impatience. Instead, I believe I have mistakenly listened to the voices of the ultra-cautious naysayers (including my own)… Continue reading
This post is part of a synchroblog entitled, What’s in Your Knapsack? Links to other participants are listed at the end of this post. Here is some more explanation from the Synchroblog site… Whether it is white privilege, heterosexual privilege, male privilege, Christian privilege, able-bodied privilege or any other privilege… Continue reading
We have been road trip warriors this spring with a 3,500 mile tour of the South and a trip to Northwestern Missouri to visit family only three weeks later. I confess, I had mixed feelings about the latter trip because I knew it would be busy, if not chaotic. Five… Continue reading
I am a mountain lover, but I like trees on my mountains, which is why I love the Appalachians. We have been in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, but never the Smokies. It’s my Dad’s favorite place in the world. So, I wanted visit it on our way… Continue reading
Savannah is really old, really southern, and really quirky. It has a mystical quality about it. It’s so darn hot and humid in the summer, you can totally understand why it was designed with all those famous squares all over town. They are basically little parks every few blocks. They… Continue reading
This was our backyard. Our main destination on the trip was an old timey beachside apartment motel, called, Island House Apartment Motel. There are a bunch of them along with a bunch of mansions on Casey Key, a barrier Island on the Gulf Coast of Florida. They call it… Continue reading
Broadway Street “The Honky Tonk district” There is a special excitement to beginning a road trip vacation with a new minimalist agenda. It’s a relief just to leave the old routines behind. On the way here, we enjoyed a picnic lunch of fried chicken, saw Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis… Continue reading
What is it about the South that makes me love it so darn much? Is it because it is warm? Is it because the people tend to be more congenial? Is it the mountains, the waterfalls, barrier islands, the beaches? It is probably all of the above and a few… Continue reading
After a couple (or was it three) very potent Margaritas and several hands of Rummy, someone said something that I found amusing at the time and I broke out in uncontrollable giggling. When I say giggling, I mean I sounded like a Junior High girl. And when I say uncontrollable, I… Continue reading
One cannot help but see the stark contrast between Jesus and present day Christianity. It is almost as if they are two different faiths… one separated, cloistered, its own subculture; the other, on the streets, in the slums, and bars. One, trying to be holy through self-improvement and dissociation, the… Continue reading
John 12:12-19 Twenty years later, I remember the opening scene. Jesus is playing with the children, palm branches are being waved all over the place as the little ones sing and dance while running down the aisles of theater up to the stage. It is that festive, moving, celebratory picture that is my… Continue reading
When pressed to summarize what he required, Jesus said, love God and love your neighbor. Paul, the Apostle fleshed this out by saying that God wants living sacrifices. He is asking for a huge religious paradigm shift that calls for an end to people trying to appease God. He is… Continue reading
Do we learn best from our failures or our successes? I learn a lot from my failures. I should, because I rehearse them over and over. I learn what an incredible screw up I am. I throw some gasoline upon my ever smoldering sense of shame. I paralyze myself from moving forward… Continue reading
John 4: 43-54 There is a near resurrection in this passage from John’s biography of Jesus. It was a government official’s son who was near death. His distraught dad had come to Jesus pleading with him to travel to his town and heal his son, but instead Jesus said, “Go back… Continue reading
What difference would it make if Jesus did not rise from the dead? We would be following a martyr, instead of a victor. The church may never have developed without the reassurance of the resurrected Jesus. The message of his followers may have been one of revenge and bad news,… Continue reading
I wrote this piece during the Obama/Romney Campaign. That campaign was a gentile exercise in democracy compared to the current one. Campaign season always makes me cranky. Campaigns always turn ugly. Candidates should run their own campaign and lay off of the half-truths and lies about their competitors, but they… Continue reading
Every day, I listen to NPR. I also watch Fox News on a daily basis. I tell people that I am either perfectly balanced or totally schizophrenic. Some of the shows on the more biased news networks are just straight forward news. Some are extended opinion pieces. Some get high… Continue reading
The Trayvon Martin case is but another example of a high profile, racially charged incident being tried in the media and the court of public opinion prior to the facts being known. Emotions are running high because it reminds us as a nation of our not so distant past when… Continue reading
Am I staring at it or is it staring at me? I could say anything, but not just anything comes from my soul and not just anything will touch another soul. Sometimes the words flow much faster than the spelling and grammar can keep up with. Other times, the… Continue reading
Trying to nail down a post-institutional church theology and practice is a huge task and by attempting it, I am opening myself to misunderstanding. What I have typed out here is in no way meant to denigrate anyone who disagrees with me, but rather it is an attempt to describe what… Continue reading
This post is part of a synchroblog related to Women’s History Month and International Woman’s Day. I was in my early twenties attending a denominational meeting with my pastor when we ran upon a mutual acquaintance, the man who was my pastor when I was a teenager. He had moved… Continue reading
I was mesmerized by Whitney Houston’s televised memorial service. Maybe, I do miss church gatherings a little bit after all. They certainly “had church”! Whitney was blessed with an amazing gift, a voice that she honed into something extraordinary. She was, apparently, a very sweet, relational soul with an abiding faith in… Continue reading
A report released in May of 2011 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that the gap between the rich and poor in O.E.C.D. countries has reached its highest level in over 30 years. Here is my response about how to shrink that gap in the United States. What’s your perspective?… Continue reading
“You can live forty days without food, four days without water, four minutes without air, but not even four seconds without hope.” – Anonymous Hope Described It is laborious and depressing to try to muddle on when you feel hopeless. In my own precarious situation, I have noticed that the… Continue reading
Here is a summary of my observations on presidential campaigns. The candidates always say they are going to run a positive campaign, but it always turns negative and nasty. They always say that the campaign is about the people and their love of the country, but the one with the… Continue reading
Many Christmases ago when my nephew was at the height of the cool toy stage of life, he tore into one of his gifts from my parents, his grandparents, to make the awful discovery that his practical-minded grandma had given him the gift of tidy whities. They were not cool boxers… Continue reading
Why can’t I be happy sitting in the pew and doing a little something to help out at church? Why can’t I be content to be a part of community association and help out at various fundraisers? Why can’t I become a part of the system and just shut up? Look… Continue reading
For the last several weeks, I have been poking around in the nooks and crannies of the Hager Hacienda in an effort to eliminate clutter. Boxes of outdated and unused books have been donated to the community library. Clothes went to the drop-off box. Old dishes were delivered to a local… Continue reading
My favorite NFL team lost today… by a wide point spread … to a really bad team… on the heels of a four game winning streak, and I didn’t like it one bit! I hate expectations! I really hate them when they are projected on me and I am almost always disappointed… Continue reading
Temperatures cooling Hearts warming Family converging Kitchen cooking Television parading Table praying, chattering, complimenting, delightfully consuming Dishes washing Football watching Paper reading Naps calling Holidays commercialized This one less corrupted A reminder to Hold each other close Remember our advantages And those for whom they remain a distant hope All… Continue reading
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA&w=640&h=480] Steve Jobs made me do it! In his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford he told three stories from his life that wound up shaping his future. They were about dropping out of college, getting fired from Apple, and being told he only had a short while to live. When… Continue reading
Is it bad to get angry? Contrary to what I was taught, no, it is not. It is not bad to let your anger control you? Yes. And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry. (Ephesians 4:26) Anger is a… Continue reading
This post is part of the synchroblog, Down We Go. We all have our prejudices. Personally, I am leery of people who appear to have it all together. Right now, I am recalling the proper, Christian Grandmother who kept the birth of her granddaughter secret because she was born before her mother… Continue reading
Here are some ideas that will get you branded a troublemaker. Advocacy People should not be pushed to the edges of our society. Some people cannot get on their feet without some help or advocacy. We all do not have the same opportunities because our history and circumstances vary… Continue reading
Transitions are always unsettling, filled with thoughts of excitement, fear, anticipation, and anxiety. It would be great if we could set our personal GPS and follow the directions to our desired location, never needing to redirect. But, alas, that is not at the way life plays out and it really… Continue reading
Celebrity Edition There are a few well-known people that have made my list of admirable folks, including a singer, a football coach, a Bible teacher, and a comedian. Johnny Cash Cash is always at the top of my “most admired” list because he was true to himself. His musical… Continue reading
I am a bit of a cynic, so I don’t have many heroes. Like everybody else, I have been disappointed, hurt, and dissed by people. Sometimes I think about those people, but not very often, because I choose to focus on that which builds, rather than that (those) who would pull… Continue reading
Right now, I am frustrated. My current circumstances provide lots of opportunities to find myself in such a state. Fortunately, I have been in good spirits for some time. Roadblocks have led to creative thinking or an acceptance of the uncertainty of all that hangs in the balance. I am not… Continue reading
I don’t live in Wisconsin, but I’m close… a block and a half south of the state line and I regularly read a Wisconsin newspaper and listen to Wisconsin Public Radio. Like most everyone else, I receive a constant barrage of sound bites, call-in programs, posts and tweets about what is… Continue reading
Last Saturday I was picking up Patty at the door of our local Wal-Mart when I saw a grocery cart stall out right in the middle of the very busy main lane of the parking lot. The guy in the car in front of me, yells out, “So, you’re just… Continue reading
Thirty-one years ago, I was twenty-five, Patty was just twenty-three and Nathan was thinking about finally being born. You see, according to the doctor, he was nearly a month late. He has always been one to rarely change his mind and when he found his zone, he stayed with it. So,… Continue reading
