They say you are what you eat. I eat a lot of chicken; I am not a chicken yet. I began utilizing diet to manage my Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the 1980’s when I was a little boy. At that time, my mother was introduced to the Feingold Diet and for several years, I ate a lot of foods that did not have red food dye, salicylates and had to eat carob chocolate instead of real chocolate. It... Read more
Tongues James 3:4-5 offers this: Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also, the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. One of the more intimidating spiritual practices I have avoided as a contemplative is the silent retreat. Silence and ADHD are not compatible playmates. This is not to say... Read more
“Go to Hell” is common parlance when one is disgusted with another’s behaviors. In our house, since I am a former pastor, “I am going to go to hell for saying that” is a joke we pass around quite often. Perhaps one of more trying theological and historical topics to preach and teach about was hell. In this discussion, I want to tackle a couple of notions of hell from several angles: misconceptions; the nature of hell and other religious... Read more
The topic of this discussion was inspired by a podcast I was listening to with Dr. Adam Clark of Xavier University in Cincinatti Ohio (https://adamlclark.com/). In a conversation with Josh Patterson of the (RE)Thinking Faith Podcast, Dr. Clark mentioned the comparison of cosmetic diversity vs. Deep pluralism. Cultural Diversity and Peace and Justice At the heart of my education in undergraduate and in both of my graduate programs was some sort of emphasis on cultural diversity. In college,... Read more
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God I am a contemplative at heart. As pastor, I never learned bible passages for the sake of learning bible passages. I was never a sword drill champion. For me, memorizing bible verses was a useless endeavor if one leans into the notion of the Bible being the “living words”. As a... Read more
In 2017, I turned 40 years old. At this point, I had been running ultramarathons for 7 years, averaging around three 50k’s a year, with a couple of years where I had 5 ultras under my belt. I have never been competitive, but in 2014, a strange thing happened, I ran my first sub-8-hour 50k, followed by a sub 7 in 2016 and then consistent sub 7:30’s in 2017-2020. Forty was a new age bracket putting me in the “Master’s”... Read more
Religion and Politics In the World Religions class I teach, I have the students look at the dynamics and relationship between religion and politics at the end of the semester. The last few classes, I have had the students address the question, does religion cause violence? This semester however, I asked a different question, “what role does religion play in politics?” Consider this thought from Christopher Calloway (Calloway): While the topic of establishment (Under the notion of separation of church... Read more
Is fear an emotion or a perception? What do we do about the notion of fear? In the next two posts, I am going to look at how fear is driving the problem of social conflict and the ongoing collapse of church institutions in America. In this post, I want to address three areas regarding the experience of fear: the psychology of fear, and finally mindful practices to deal with fear. Psychology of Fear Fear is closely related to anxiety,... Read more
Just Well, we are a week into the first year! If you made a commitment to moving more and getting more exercise this year, how did you do this week? I was able to get up at 0530 most mornings and was able to get most of my training in. Things Fall Apart Twenty years ago, my life began falling apart. After finishing a Master’s degree for church work, my Conference told me that they were not going to... Read more
my coworker’s boy Chris. As a three year old, they are generally just bundles of energy and enthusiasm. We can learn a lot from three year olds. 2024 New Year, New You! Well, not really. As a Therapist and a Personal Trainer, I love and hate this time of the year. A lot of motivational people will talk up happiness as if it were an end goal to a fulfilling life. While I cannot disagree, I cannot completely agree... Read more
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