I am not complaining. Hear this: I am not complaining. I’m in Los Angeles staying at the medical center hotel on the UCLA campus. The only people who can stay here are those who are doing some sort of testing or procedure at UCLA. They provide daily breakfast. I’m here for the final testing to see whether I can donate a kidney to my brother. I should have the ending answer on this in about ten days. This morning, I... Read more
By now, anyone who has the news on will have heard about the Delta airplane coming into La Guardia Airport that skidded off the runway. It came within feet of plunging into the icy waters of the bay. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries. Unfortunately, even more schedules are going to be disrupted. Heads are probably going to roll at the decision to land the plane the way they did. And, as I wrote in an earlier post, “Nature trumps... Read more
I have just spent the last hour and a half in the Apple Store purchasing a new iPhone. As if I needed it. Nonetheless, the attraction of the best, the brightest, the shiniest technology finally won me over. In other words, I’m just like millions of others. The same thing happens with theology. Who wants the old stuff when you can have the new stuff? Who wants to talk about sin? Who wants to talk about the fact that we... Read more
Nature trumps all human plans. How quickly and unexpectedly it can ground us Grounded–that’s the word used when airlines have to cancel flights for weather. And that’s what has also happened in the area here in North Texas for much of the last couple of weeks. And it was my situation on Sunday morning. Although much of the ice/snow mix melted late Saturday, there were still patches of ice everywhere with some churches cancelling services for the sake of the... Read more
I’m cleaning out computer files and found a something I had written for a baby shower for my niece. Apparently we were supposed to write out the best advice we ever got from our mothers. Here’s what I came up with: I’ve been racking my brain for advice from my mother on raising babies. I honestly can’t remember any real advice. She offered a ton of encouragement, and was a wonderful help when the boys got older. She wasn’t very... Read more
“Tell me a story.” Or, “Let me tell you a story.” Possibly two of the commonest phrases in our language. When I was preparing for the final project for my doctorate, I spent time learning how societies without literacy transmitted information from generation to generation. They told stories which stayed remarkably consistent during their generational transfers. They served a societal glue–people who knew the same stories could be trusted. Religious groups also tell stories. Similar stories hold churches together and... Read more
Several weeks before the beginning of Lent I began to consider and pray about how best to use this time to bring glory to God and clear my own way toward a repentant and tender heart. For years I’ve told people who inquired about their own personal disciplines, “When your first response to an idea for something to relinquish for Lent is ‘No, not that!’ you have probably found an important clue to what you need to do.” For me... Read more
The number one thing is, “Don’t send your used shoes.” Compassionate people plus tough and tragic situations equals a desire to do something, anything, to relieve suffering. So we ask, “how can I help?” There’s plenty of suffering to go around. From mass near starvation of Syrian refugees to daily destruction issued by Islamic terrorists to destruction and death in the Philippines from Typhoon Haiyan to the average, everyday angst that afflicts most everyone–well, we’re just not going to run... Read more
Ray Rice stands in an elevator and punches out his then girlfriend. Anastasia stands in the elevator and says loudly “Stop!” to the handsome, rich boyfriend, Christian. He is stopped in his tracks. That’s the difference between a woman with power and a woman without power. According to the Rev. Dr. William K. Kirby, one of the “take-homes” from the much read and much viewed Fifty Shades of Grey is that a woman can own her sexuality and not relinquish... Read more
“A drastically oversimplified screed masquerading as analysis.” That’s what one commentator called a recent blog I had written about the influx of young men into the neo-calvinist churches. While he could possibly have been kinder in the comment, I agree the post itself did not examine the some of the greater reasons why that type of church is showing such very rapid growth. I did talk about this several months ago when I wrote a (somewhat) tongue-in-cheek blog about why the... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In