It’s county fair time. Image by vpickering via Flickr From toss-the-ring-on-the- bottle, to the teacup ride, to the barn where the kids show off their prize pig, it’s as old-time as you can get in this modern age. From the pie contest, to the demolition derby, to the house of haunted mirrors, there’s no better display of Americana than the local county fair. And then there’s the food. Jam it on a stick, and it sells. Corn dogs, pickles, jam... Read more
I admit. I’m a planner. I’m a plotter. I can even be a schemer. From the time I was a little boy I was the “man with the plan,” so to speak. I was the one organizing the baseball game for everyone. I laid my clothes out for school – for the week. From places to travel to people to meet, I had big ideas all the time. Image by Brandon Doran via Flickr And as an adult not much... Read more
Last week’s post on Public Apologies generated some great conversations. But the most interesting conversation. I’ve had to apologize to some close people for wrongs I’ve committed. The response is varied. Some have ignored the apologies altogether, the subject too uncomfortable to deal with the implications. Others have brushed the apologies off and still held on the hurt. Other have embraced my heart and worked toward a new relationship. My friend Philip, wrote a post called “My Bad.” He said this: “I get... Read more
This seems to have been a long summer of very public apologies.It started in the business world. Toyota CEO Akia Toyoda famously cried on television, expressing remorse for the auto manufacture’s safety problems. British Petroleum CEO Tony Hayward sauntered up the microphone to try and make amends for the Gulf Coast oil spill. The sports world was rocked when Tiger Woods morphed from superstar to a man of contrition, confessing his sins on television and pleading for forgiveness. In the entertainment... Read more
I often dream that I am tagging along behind Jesus, longing for Him to choose me as one of his disciples. Then, without warning, he turns around, looks straight into my eyes and says “Follow me.” My heart races and I begin to run toward him, when he interrupts with “Oh, not you, the other guy. Sorry.'”— Mike YaconelliToo many times in my life, I have shouldered a task, believing that I was the only one who could get it... Read more
My grandfather was a gardener extraordinaire. But he was no lightweight. He was a salty man, rough and tumble, his character formed on the high seas as a member of the merchant marines. He had been in fights in every port and knew how to bang a few trashcans. But the man knew how to garden. There’s an amazing transformation that happens to a person when they take seed to soil. It’s a perfect picture of hope and faith, work... Read more
She might be only 20 years old, but Pompano Beach, Fla., store manager Nayara Goncalves has the heart of a lion. A man walked into her store and pulled out a gun. Instead of screaming, she calmly said, “I’m going to talk to you about the Jesus I have.” (Watch the ABC News video here) The man reasoned that he need money for his rent, as he faced evicition. But Nayara continued to share her faith with the masked man.... Read more
You can’t have that out in plain sight,” the woman said to me. Her hair was pulled so tight it tugged on her eyes. “Someone might get offended.” She then whirled around and walked away, her clackety-clack shoes echoing against the tile floor. What offended her was the book with an obviously Christian title in my hand on the way out to lunch. Shocked as much by her bold intrusion into my reading habits as I was by her pronouncement,... Read more
Justin David Buzzard is a pastor in the San Francisco Bay Area. He wrote an interesting post about how he has built his ministry by doing to the places where the men of his church work. He calls it “the most important thing he has done in his ministry.” “It showed them that I care about their callings, how they spend 50+ hours of their week, and the people they work with,” he writes. Pastor Buzzard admits that it he... Read more
We live in the generation of Right Now. We want everything quickly — Instant credit, fast food, instant news. We’ve been raised on 30 second commercials and 140-character status updates. We simply don’t have attention for anything that takes a long time. Watch how people fidget in the grocery store line, at the Post Office, or at a red light. We are an impatient people. But discipleship is a long endeavor, not a quick fix. Character growth with God is like... Read more
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