In response to God’s call for “no bull” in Psalm 50, we hear Psalm 51, the most well-known of the Penitential Psalms where the writer comes before God with a contrite heart and prays for the removal of personal and social sin, a psalm commonly associated with Lent. Attributed to King David after being confronted […]
Read More“Does knowing that God might frustrate your plans bring you comfort?” Sometimes a question can be worth a thousand words. This question, asked by Jeanelle Reider in her book, The One Voice that Matters, speaks volumes about God’s will and following God’s will. It is better than twenty treatises on the subject. It states simply […]
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I love the way words spoken thousands of years ago are still relevant today, sometimes in ways that surprise. In Psalm 50, God is speaking to his people. God comes as a thundering judge to testify against the people, “Our God comes, he does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, round about […]
Read MoreWe are in the graduation season, followed by the marriage month, June. Throughout the nation, graduating seniors are being given words of wisdom at commencement ceremonies, as one stage of their life ends and they prepare for the next one. They are being told to hold on to their dreams, to dream big, make a […]
Read MoreComplete this sentence: a bad day writing is . . . For me, a bad day writing is better than a good day doing pretty much anything else. I love the writing process. Even those days when I’m stuck, nothing flows from my pen, are good. On those days I might put my pen and […]
Read More“The gods have two ways to punish us– the first is to deny us our dreams, and the second is to grant them.” This quote has been attributed to Oscar Wilde in several different formats. Regardless of what the actual quote is, the meaning remains the same. It’s a damned if you do, damned if […]
Read MoreJim is a World War II veteran. At 84 he has experienced many losses. How do you find a reason to get up each day when so many of your loved ones are gone? How do you find new dreams when your future appears so limited? Meet Jim and find out how he deals with […]
Read More“To pray is to dream in league with God,” according to Rabbi Abraham Heschel. What a wonderful thought! It says something about prayer and about dreams. We all have dreams, things we hope for, wish for, whether awake or asleep. It’s human nature to dream. Our dreams say something about who we are and what […]
Read MoreBig and Bold! Anyone who knows me, knows this is not me. I’m neither big nor bold. I’m more like the church mouse who hides in the corner observing, or the invisible hands coming out to serve then disappearing. I’m not a social butterfly grabbing center stage. As a five on the Enneagram (for more […]
Read MoreThere were no marketing classes in my Masters and Doctoral programs in ministry. I learned plenty about Scripture, Church Teaching and Tradition, Liturgy, Counseling, and Programming, but no marketing. Marketing was way too secular. It dealt with that dirty term “money.” We were too good to be concerned about money. As ministers we were supposed […]
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