It happens every year. Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays? Holiday concert or Christmas pageant? Baby Jesus or Santa Claus? Atheists oppose public religious displays. Christians insist, often angrily, that Jesus is the reason for the season. Battle lines appear. Each side demands respect through disrespectful acrimony and sarcasm. It happened again here. And it’s all very, […]
Continue readingMore TagToo Smart For Miracles?
Are You Too Smart For Miracles? It was just a casual party conversation. I didn’t know the other guy very well, so the discussion skipped around like a smooth stone on a pond. I don’t recall how the stone skipped onto “religion” but suddenly he said, “I’m just too smart for miracles.” I’ve learned to […]
Continue readingMore TagOops!
Yesterday I gave the wrong date for our presentation at Timberline Church in Fort Collins. The correct date is Wednesday, January 18th, 2011 at 7:00 pm. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Continue readingMore TagIt’s Only A Bike Ride
We received another dose of humility this weekend. Pastor Dick Foth at Timberline Church in Fort Collins invited Becky, Monte, and me to share a bit about Rich’s Ride in weekend worship services. Dick asked each of us to offer a one-word takeaway from our experience. Becky talked about the supportive power of prayer; I […]
Continue readingMore TagSpirit
Happy Monday. Christmas arrives in two weeks, and I’m having trouble finding today’s word-of-the-week… SPIRIT You know, that wonderful glowing Christmas Spirit—lights and shopping and chestnuts roasting on an open fire. This year for some reason it’s just not happening. I thought about it a bit over the weekend and wondered if perhaps it’s not […]
Continue readingMore TagAn Advent Focus On Today
Live in the present. That’s the conventional wisdom. How often have you heard that advice? Looking back leads to regret, looking forward results in worry. TODAY is all we have, it’s what we can control, it’s the only place we can live. Pretty good guidance, right? Except—living exclusively in the present can lead to an […]
Continue readingMore TagWho Gets On The Platform?
One of the inspiring people we met was a pastor in a wheelchair. He fell from a ladder while painting a house. His injury left him totally paralyzed below his neck with absolutely no use of arms or hands. But his physical limitations didn’t paralyze his heart or his spirit, and he’s served as senior pastor of his church for several years.
Continue readingMore TagSemi-Regular Newsletter 12.7.2011
Amazing–it’s already time to begin writing about Christmas. I invite you to check out the latest edition of Rich’s Semi-Regular Newsletter. I hope the season is a time of peace and joy.
Continue readingMore TagWhat Would You Change?
If you could go back, what would you change? Occasionally someone asks a question something like this: So much good has come from your injury. Knowing that, if you could go back and change that day would you do it? I generally don’t like hypothetical situations. It’s too easy to take an extreme, non-negotiable position when you […]
Continue readingMore TagResponding To A Gift
It’s been a month since we reached New Orleans. Thanksgiving’s past, and many of us are focused on Christmas. And Christmas, of course, is all about gifts—or at least that’s what the culture wants us to believe. As I distill the experience of Rich’s Ride, one central notion keeps popping into my head. I sense […]
Continue readingMore TagAnniversary
Happy Monday! Today’s a special day for me, a day worthy of a special word-of-the-week… ANNIVERSARY Twenty-four years ago today, December 5, 1987, I got out of bed and walked downstairs. That night I slept fitfully in a special ICU bed, my neck immobilized to prevent further spinal cord damage from three shattered vertebrae. Today’s the anniversary of […]
Continue readingMore TagSecrets Of Success
Sometimes I need simple reminders. Here’s a three-minute review of stuff we all know but tend to forget.
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