Author: Rich

Our best teachers are people who thought they were just being our friends. It’s the premise of RELENTLESS GRACE. As I share bits of the story over at 300wordsaday.com, I’m reminded that God sent people instead of lessons. Isn’t that God’s big story? To redeem and heal the world, He didn’t send words. He sent the WORD. […]

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I’ve been sharing bits of the RELENTLESS GRACE story over at 300wordsaday.com. Interesting to chop incidents from the book into bite-sized chunks, sort of like an old-time radio show (tune in next week!). As I revisit the manuscript, I find new perspectives and ideas. RELENTLESS GRACE explains how God sent an unlikely string of people […]

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We’ve all heard the phrase “voice for the voiceless.” It’s a take on Proverbs 31: Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. I’m thinking about the kids at the Home of Hope. I […]

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What do I need to learn from this?  I like questions. This is a pretty good one. I wrote last time about the challenges of community. Any time you get a bunch of people together, working hard for a mission, things aren’t going to go exactly as planned. I have this tendency to “awfulize,” to […]

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Someone observed that Jesus, by most modern definitions, led a pretty empty life. No romance or children, no property or wealth, nothing we’d call a real career. By most standards, His life seems sort of unfulfilling. One exception: community. Jesus’ human life was filled with authentic friends. They did life together with all its flaws […]

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Our last tour reminded me that I’m a starfish guy. You’ve heard the starfish story. A person sees a guy tossing starfish into the ocean. “What are you doing?” “Well, the tide strands all these guys on the beach. I’m helping, throwing them back so they don’t die.” “But there’s millions of them. How can […]

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Three days until blastoff. We’ll gather, load bikes and gear, and pile bodies into vehicles for the drive to Gunnison. COLORADO MOUNTAIN TOUR will be officially underway. For me, the days before a tour are a time to slow down and reflect. While everyone else scrambles with packing, shopping, and a thousand other details, it’s […]

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COLORADO MOUUNTAIN TOUR begins next week. Someone recently said they were praying for a successful tour. We need prayer for sure, but the comment has me wondering. What would a “successful tour” look like? For me, at least, success has little to do with cycling. And that’s an odd statement for the leader of a […]

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The Fourth of July – in the U.S., a day to celebrate our individual freedom. As a white middle-class American male, I inherited historically unique personal liberty. I hope I never take that liberty, and those who sacrificed to secure and maintain it, for granted. However, these days “freedom” has a different connotation for me. […]

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I used to think the perfect retirement meant doing what I felt like doing. Work? Fine. Play? Fine, too. Take a nap? Travel? Watch TV? Retirement meant doing what I felt like doing when I felt like doing it. I quickly learned that “when I feel like it” isn’t a recipe for a meaningful life. […]

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At our church, we’re fond of saying we love our city. It’s a way of stating our commitment to serve where we live. Our missions team isn’t just involved “over there,” we’re embedded in service work within our community. It occurs to me that loving my city, or my church, is relatively easy. The hard […]

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