From: Deanna Subject: “Work” versus a paying Job I am always busy doing something. It seems the internet is my big platform for Christ. Yet in all the good I can do online, I struggle to go beyond the “work” online that I don’t get paid for, but it is something I am gifted in. I can’t seem to find a job and keep one that actually pays money. While I enjoy the “work” I do online, I need to... Read more
(Originally posted January 2014) Even Charlie Peacock needs a muse, the artist’s artist that he is. But what is it, a muse? How is it different than that other strangely similar word, amuse? The difference makes a difference. The one is an old word from the 14th-century, meaning “to dream, to ponder,” or as a noun, “an inspiring goddess to a particular poet.” The other is “to not dream, to not ponder, to not imagine, to not think.” To “amuse”... Read more
“The only whole heart is a broken heart.” I finally finished The Father’s Tale, all 1072 pages. At the beginning of Lent I decided to once again live within the story we call “the prodigal son,” though more truthfully it is the story of two lost sons. For many years I have read and reread versions of this story during the days of Lenten meditation. There are good books written about it, like Henri Nouwen’s The Return of the Prodigal,... Read more
(Originally posted December 2013) Lewis and Clark. An expedition but also a college, and yesterday I found myself thinking about both. Staying for the week in a hotel a few blocks from the Columbia River, where the adventure across America began to end, I spent the afternoon at Lewis and Clark College, which last year was judged “the second-most beautiful campus” in the country. On a wintry December day, it was hard to tell. What is education all about, anyway?... Read more
Would you like personalized work-life advice? Now you can get it from Steve Garber….a man who spends his life walking alongside people as they seek to find God in their daily work. Send Steve a brief message through the blog by following this link. Then wait for your answer to appear on the blog! (All specific personal information will be kept private–only first names will be used on the blog. Feel free to enter a pseudonym if you need to,... Read more
(Originally published in May 2014.) Integral, not incidental. I think most of us want coherent lives; in fact we long for coherence. Given my own beliefs about who we are as human beings, and the kind of world we live in, I sense that we feel a dissonance in our souls when we have less than coherence. We may not talk about it; we may stuff it deep down inside, but as I watch people I see folk who hope... Read more
I do love a good story. And it’s not always apparent on the first page. Having read most of Dickens, I now know that it will take about 25 pages to understand enough to keep reading; he paints with a broad brush before he begins with the details– the people, the places, and the drama of life. That was true as I began reading “Death of an Expert Witness” by P.D. James, which now has kept my attention for most... Read more
We long for what we do to grow out of who we are, for our occupation(s) to be rooted in our vocation. That is the hope of everyone’s heart. Read more
What do artisan popsicles have to do with addiction and unemployment? Read more
Cynicism? It lurks around the corner of everyone’s heart. Powerful people in a powerful place– of course it cannot be honest. Everyone’s playing a game of some sort—you just need to see it for what it is. We see through, don’t we? We know, don’t we? If you haven’t already screwed me and the world, you will—and I will not be screwed again! So of course I don’t believe you. Why should I? How could I? Read more
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