Image by vinduhl via Flickr The bite of fall is in the air. It snuck in while we weren’t watching.Suddenly the leaves in the trees are slightly off-color, the mornings are a little crisper, and the evenings a little darker.It won’t be long, now.And then there’s the tomatoes. They hang in bunches in the back yard. Their crop has been full of promise. Thick and rich with round living ornaments, the plants bow deeply, kissing the ground with heaviness. There... Read more
Do you feel trapped? At work, are you chained to a desk you despise, doing work you dislike, working for a boss who doesn’t care? Likely, the rest of your life is simliarly imprisoned…and you are serving concurrent sentences. If you are unsettled at work, you are probably unsettled outside of work. You may feel trapped in your marriage, in your home, or in your church. You can’t get out. Perhaps you have tried to make your escape by quitting... Read more
Image via Wikipedia Talk to almost any working person and they’ll tell you that Labor Day is the bookend to summer — a sad closure to an already too-short summer. The day may be filled with family, travel or BBQs. It almost always entails a holiday, a day off from work — which seems ironic that we would rest in honor of labor. But thats exactly the point. Congress established the day in honor of the working man and woman... Read more
Some dogs chase cars. Some dogs chase bikes. Some dogs chase other dogs.Some dogs will chase after anything you throw at them. A stick, a frisbee, a can. Eager they are. Then you have the dogs that chase nothing. They put on a show to chase every passing car or person, but quickly give up pursuit. Apparently its a game to chase for the sake of the chase and nothing else. There’s no reason or purpose to their pursuit. Even... Read more
“But I tell you, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you…”Matthew 5:44 (NIV) Sometimes I read this passage from the Sermon on the Mount and I think, “Has Jesus met some of the people I work with?” “Has he met my brother, my neighbor or any of the other characters in my life?” This is perhaps the hardest command to follow. Jesus taught us and expects us to pray for our attackers, to lift up our critics and... Read more
Image via Wikipedia “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things”. — Mark 6:34 You’ve seen the signs: “Veteran. Anything helps” “Out of work. God Bless” “Hungry and cold. Thank you. You know the people. Friends, family, neighbors or coworkers, who have had a bad run of luck. Medical bills. Cars that never run. Jobs that never seem to last.... Read more
The Union Army conjured up a masterful strategy to inflict a serious blow on the Confederate soldiers at Petersburg, VA. The idea was to tunnel into the Confederate defensive trench system and detonate a huge quantity of explosive. This would expose the trenches and allow the soldiers to override the confederates. A five-hundred foot tunnel was dug and the explosives detonated, producing a hole of 135 feet across. A brigade of troops was sent into the crater to flush out... Read more
A frank talk about loyalty. Zappos, the online shoe seller, expects to generate sales of more than $1 billion this year. That’s a lot of shoes. Besides their metoric growth, they are also turning heads with their unique new-hire program. After the first week or so of intense training, they utilize what they call “The Offer.” It goes something like this: “If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time you’ve worked, plus we will offer... Read more
If you are pessimist by nature, you’ve got to be feeling a little smug right now. Economic collapse. Moral decline. Unemployement. Rampant corruption. “I told you so!” Getting some people to see any glimmer is nearly impossible. They have the uncanny ability to stare down the brightest light until they force it to go dark.But, if we are honest, we all take some comfort in our grumblings. We revel in our mumblings. We willingly drag our feet and become slaves... Read more
(see part 1 and 2 for the set up for this post) The Hollywood God is an elderly gentleman who smiles at us, pats us on the back, and gives us our allowance. He doesn’t ask for anything in return. We judge God. We presume who is should be. When He doesn’t meet up to our expectations of what He should do, we judge Him. When He doesn’t act like we think He should, we turn our backs on Him.... Read more
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