Happy Monday! For the first Monday of 2016 a perfect word-of-the-week ENCOURAGEMENT I’m so grateful that you read these words each week, and I’m prompted to begin 2016 with a message of encouragement. I can’t promise you smooth roads and an easy path. Life doesn’t work like that. I do believe God offers an opportunity to write […]
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Thinking About The Big Picture
Happy New Year! I’m not a New Year’s Resolutions guy. However, I do find this to be a useful season to slow down a bit and take some time to reflect, reevaluate, and recalibrate. I’m reminding myself to think more about the big picture. I know God sees things from a perspective I can’t imagine, but I can […]
Continue readingWhat’s Next?
End-of-the-year is a time to reflect. For me that means looking at where the FREEDOM TOUR has been and where it’s going. I can’t think about the FREEDOM TOUR without thinking about my friend Wayne. I borrowed these thoughts from our Florida Tour in 2013. # # # Wayne was the first person I told about […]
Continue readingWhere’s The Peace On Earth?
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will […]
Continue readingHome Of Hope Christmas Card
I love getting Christmas cards. I especially enjoy the letters, reading the highlights of the year through the eyes of friends and family. Sadly, I’m not always good at sending out my own yearly summaries. However, I’m eager to bring you this news. As part of the FREEDOM TOUR family, you get to share the […]
Continue readingMystery
Happy Monday! Christmas week brings me to today’s word-of-the-week… MYSTERY Everyone else seems to have a sense about Christmas. For some, it’s politically correct Happy Holidays! For others it’s Merry Christmas and the reason for the season. Some see profits, others fear family gatherings that open old wounds. There’s vacations, celebrations, and decorations. To me, it all a mystery, and the more I understand […]
Continue readingWhy The Foundation Matters
Appearances can deceive. We’re deluged with slick media campaigns aimed at promoting a message that places a shiny cover on something that might be a bit less spiffy when the lights are turned off. I reached back a couple of years for these thoughts. # # # A while back I watched one of those DIY shows. […]
Continue readingWhen Plans Become Expectations
On Day One of our long-awaited Mississippi River trip, everything went precisely according to our carefully crafted plan–until we actually started riding. Perfect weather, a beginning prayer with friends and strangers, a crash, a wonderful ride through pristine north woods country, and a meeting with Paul Bunyan and a big blue ox. Did you catch the “crash” part? Yeah, […]
Continue readingDichotomy
Happy Monday! It’s time to let go of today’s word-of-the-week… DICHOTOMY We’re comfortable with dichotomy, even when it’s false. Good/evil. Friend/enemy. Conservative/liberal. Life’s easier when our ideas, politics, or theology can be reduced to a nice, simple dichotomy. Would-be “leaders” capitalize on this desire for simplicity. So they create powerful, simplistic, repetitive imagery that appeals to […]
Continue readingMaybe It’s More Than Sticks
“To the uneducated an A is just three sticks.” — Eeyore (A. A. Milne) I receive all sorts of comments when I’m riding my bike. Lots of “thumbs up” (at least I assume they’re thumbs) and a ton of encouragement, but occasionally someone tosses out a comment about how “easy” my ride appears. “Wow, I wish […]
Continue readingIt’s Not About The Tree
Poor Charlie Brown. He wanted so badly to discover the true meaning of Christmas, but his friends were too caught up in their activities and busyness to hear his desperation. They decided the answer was to involve him in their craziness by having him direct a modernized version of the Christmas story. When that didn’t […]
Continue readingSpace
HAPPY MONDAY! A thought from my friend Dick Foth inspires today’s word-of-the-week… SPACE Gratitude occupies a lot of space. Gratitude crowds out most other emotions. When you focus on the things for which you’re thankful, it’s difficult to find space for things like anger, hate, competitiveness, or greed. Want to try an experiment? Next time you’re feeling […]
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