Happy Monday. I hope you enjoyed your weekend and survived the inevitable avalanche of advertising. Shopping and holiday traditions got me thinking about my word-of-the-week… TRADITION This is a season of traditions. Organizations, communities, families—all sorts of groups create traditional responses to the holiday. Traditions serve varied purposes. They invoke warm (and sometimes painful) memories, […]
Continue readingHow Will We Leave Our Mark?
Happy Saturday! Have you ever wondered whether Jesus has a sense of humor? I’m pretty sure He does—a bunch of close friends who traveled together for three years must have shared some laughs. Humor is a great way to make an important point. With that in mind, this poem is a marvelous parody of the famous […]
Continue readingRight Or Not Right?
Do you ever struggle to know what’s right? (I see you nodding.) This video made the rounds on the Internet this week. If you haven’t seen it, take twenty-seven seconds to watch. (If you can’t see the video, click here.) If you’re not a football fan, the kid figured out a way to trick the […]
Continue readingThanksgiving 2010–A Video
I wish each of you a peaceful, relaxing Thanksgiving Day. This video contains some profound thoughts about the roots of this holiday. Enjoy! And if you’ll pardon a quick commercial, Thanksgiving Thursday quickly gives way to Black Friday. I hope you’ll make our holiday sale part of your shopping plans. Click here for great deals. […]
Continue readingWilling To Be Willing
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger… [Ephesians 4:21(a)] Do you cling to any traces of bitterness? Last week I wrote about talking to a younger version of me (Teaching Me). As I re-read my account of learning a scarcity mentality, it felt like I wrote a bit dispassionately. My words seemed somewhat cold […]
Continue readingLife Is Short
Happy Monday! Normally this is word-of-the-week day, but I want to do something different for the holiday. The obvious word for Thanksgiving week would be gratitude. Last week I read a great article in which Chris Guillebeau said, “When you find yourself with time to spare, don’t kill it. Respect it.” Chris’ quote got me […]
Continue readingSmall Business Saturday
Happy Weekend! I’m told that today is a brand new holiday. This very day has been branded “Small Business Saturday.” SBS is our opportunity to kick off our gift shopping by supporting the small businesses that have struggled through recent economic hard times. I’m not sure we need another “special” day, but supporting small business […]
Continue readingSelf-defeating Cycles
Is it possible that Abundance is a self-created cycle? The steps in this picture take the marchers perpetually uphill or downhill. Same steps—it’s all about which direction they choose to walk. I have a feeling the same sort of dynamic works for abundance and scarcity. Last time (Teaching Me) I talked about learning to think […]
Continue readingPavement…
…isn’t all that precious. Does it ever strike you that you treasure the wrong stuff? This week I’m trying to focus on my belief in Abundance. I’m afraid that there’s a big space between my intellectual belief and my habitual attitudes. An objective observer might not conclude that I operate consistently from an abundance mentality. I […]
Continue readingSemi-Regular Newsletter 11.18.10
I wonder a lot about the connection between Jesus’ birth and saving money–otherwise known as the “Holiday Sale.” I’m not sure how such incongruous notions became so tightly linked, but I suppose there’s not much I can do about it. Check out my response in this special edition of Rich’s Semi-Regular Newsletter. This week I’m […]
Continue readingTeaching Me
When we are young or immature, right theology makes us feel superior, but when we are older and more mature, a study of theology makes us feel inferior and unworthy, undeserved, and grateful. Don Miller Do you ever think about the life-changing lessons you learned as a kid? I’m not talking about words and facts […]
Continue readingAbundance
Happy Monday. Around here we’ve got our first snow on the ground—time to get the winter tires on the wheelchair. This edition of word-of-the-week has me thinking about… ABUNDANCE Abundance is an attitude, and it doesn’t come easily or naturally to me. I grew up in a home of scarcity. Our scarcity wasn’t material—it was […]
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