My brother posts this picture of my grandpa every year around Memorial Day. The baby he is holding is my father whom he saw for the first time while he was home from deployment. Both of them are also named Karl, but I am not the third because I have a middle name, Joseph, after my other grandpa. My grandpa is a good reminder why I love and respect members of the military and this country but still despise violence... Read more
Does God really have a plan for us? I used to think so, but then I saw how the sausage was made and I talked to so many people over the span of 20 years who were mostly discouraged and felt shame because they couldn’t find it. As a parent, if I told my children I had a plan for them, their first question would be “What is it??” Evolving From Religious Trauma is a book created by... Read more
Because I am disabled, I am limited by what I can do physically, I created this group so we can pray, meditate, and share positive vibes for Kamala and Tim. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1742380956513753 Read more
Get a free sneak peek at our new course!! https://youtu.be/LJhjoVf-GSQ Read more
What His Co-Workers Say Probably the only sustainable critique of Kamala Harris is that people feel they don’t know her well. That may be a problem, but it’s also pretty standard, considering that she is the Vice President, and, understandably, she has been a little under the radar in that role. However, the problem with Trump is that we have had at least eight to ten years to get to know him, and, just like the people he has worked... Read more
How I Became a Republican In college, I heard a speech from a fellow student about the free market and why we should be Republicans. She talked about a person selling pencils and how the money they earned is circulated in the economy, creating more tax revenue and jobs. With that small amount of information, I was determined to be a Republican and stayed until ten years ago, when I registered as an Independent. Unlike helping the pencil sellers, modern... Read more
I have a suspicion that many small town people like myself hold on to things too long. We are loyal to our ideals and we are slow to change. There are good noble reasons for this, but we now find ourselves at a crossroads.My solution to this a few years ago was to change from a Republican to an Independent. I wanted to be able to seriously consider the issues, without the demands of a political party telling me what... Read more
The Mistakes God Made (according to the Biblical narrative) I wouldn’t say I like discussing theology. Still, theologians do; sometimes, they cling to pieces of the narrative that don’t make sense anymore. Theologians love to hold conferences and write books wrestling around with multiple interpretations of Genesis, etc., instead of admitting what is most likely true that it was just a story told by someone whose worldview and experiences were very different than ours. The Bible is more of a... Read more
How religion lowers our expectations Before anybody objects, just let me say this about religion: I have participated in religion for most of my life and was a pastor for 20 years. So, I know the advantages of being involved in a faith community. Since we are hardwired for connection, faith communities provide this basic community that creates a lot of hope in us. I have listened to many stories about the black community and how they see... Read more
The World I Want to Live In I have to admit that I’ve never attended a political rally or even watched one on TV other than to browse through the clips and commentary of those events. When I was an evangelical, I got my political information secondhand. You might say that I was systemically indoctrinated with a certain view of the world and of politics. For many years, I just accepted what was handed to me without looking at it... Read more
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