Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. (Matthew 22:15) It’s not an isolated incident. Religious leaders were always seeking opportunities to twist Jesus’ words, catch Him breaking a rule–anything to discredit Him and diminish His increasing influence among the people. We’ve read the stories so often, maybe we […]
Continue readingDo We Abandon Our Wounded?
LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND. In battle, soldiers do everything possible to bring fallen comrades home. Even at the risk of their personal safety, every member of the unit holds sacred the commitment to leave no one behind. Recently I encountered a circumstance in which I wish that commitment applied a bit more closely to my […]
Continue readingGod’s In Control–Right?
A friend’s in some trouble. You know it. Everyone else knows it. Your friend knows it. And right now, there’s nothing you can do to help. You’ve done what you can, so now you wait, and hope, and pray. And feel helpless. You know God’s in control. But God was in control when the trouble began, […]
Continue readingMenu
HAPPY MONDAY! A favorite quote inspires today’s word-of-the-week… MENU “It’s always easier to order off the menu.” ~ Seth Godin Let someone else decide what choices are available–and acceptable–and choose from their list. Much less risk. Just sit in the chairs somebody else already set up. Jesus advised us to toss out man-made menus. He said […]
Continue readingAn Important Question That Changes My Attitude
Lots of thoughts lately about next steps for the FREEDOM TOUR. How can we do more for the kids at the Home of Hope? Who can we bring into the circle? Where is God leading us? All great, meaningful questions worth asking, but as I scan the list of What’s Next possibilities I realize I need to add […]
Continue readingWhy We Should All Throw Stones
The FREEDOM TOUR has a tradition regarding stones. At the beginning of each tour we ask each rider to select two stones. On one they write something they’d like to leave behind at the end of the ride. On the other, a lesson they want to carry with them after the tour concludes. Each team […]
Continue readingGreat Advice From The Cheshire Cat
I’m a bit of a Lewis Carroll fan. He’s best remembered as the author of Alice In Wonderland, but he was also a mathematician who incorporated a good deal of logical argument into his writing. I used a lot of his writing in math lessons; Humpty Dumpty, The Mad Hatter, and The Queen Of Hearts always inspired curiosity. […]
Continue readingThirty
HAPPY MONDAY! A sermon challenge prompts today’s word-of-the-week… THIRTY Our pastor challenged us to pray for our city for 30 days. The number rattled in my head, and I wonder what choices I’ll make in the next 30 seconds that will change someone’s path for the next 30 years? A decision, a comment, a choice. Saying yes […]
Continue readingI Am Not A Victim. Are You?
The 22 kids at the Home of Hope are victims. Or they were victims until the folks at Project Rescue removed them from a situation over which they had absolutely no control. As you might imagine, I get a lot of questions about the notion of being a victim, whether I felt like a victim, etc. I know the precise time and […]
Continue readingWhy Is The Other Guy So Unreasonable?
It’s awfully easy to say, “You’re wrong. You’re an idiot. You’re a loser.” Not all that useful, though. Shouting at the guy on the other side (who thinks you’re wrong) isn’t likely to close the gap. If your only goal is to sound cool to your own team by belittling the losers on the other […]
Continue readingMoving Or Organizing?
I’m not a fan of rules. During the last decade or so of my career as a classroom teacher I discovered that the reasons behind a lot of rules were “it’s just common sense,” “that’s how I like to do it,” “we’ve always done it that way,” or “because I said so.” Those didn’t seem like they […]
Continue readingWhat If Something’s Not Quite Aligned?
A few weeks ago my bike’s rear derailleur got slightly out of adjustment. It wasn’t bad enough to make the bike unrideable, but you could tell something was a tiny bit off. You couldn’t see anything wrong, but the chain just didn’t quite feel right. It took about a quarter-turn of an adjustment screw to get everything […]
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