“Your family and their descendants will be enslaved and abused for four hundred years, but then everything will be okay.” Imagine receiving THAT email. How would you respond? That’s exactly the message God delivered to Abram in Genesis 15. Among all His lofty promises, God assured Abram that he’d be fine but his family would endure […]
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How Do You Define Criminal?
I grew up believing laws were a good thing. I was taught to obey the law, respect the police who enforced it, and harbor a certain amount of disdain for those who intentionally violated laws. Mandela, Gandhi, and King were all criminals. All three great men spent time in jail. In the worldview of my […]
Continue readingMore TagHow To Produce Better Fruit
Want to produce better fruit? Hook up with a better tree. # # # Well, it’s happening again. My recent focus on Luke 6:38 and the surrounding verses are yielding a bunch of unexpected insights. A few days ago I wrote about a conversation with Jesus about Becoming A Fruit Tree. I came away from that discussion […]
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Happy Monday! A stranger’s death prompts today’s word-of-the-week… RIGHT By nearly any definition, Aaron Swartz was a computer prodigy, a brilliant, eccentric young man. As a teenager he created some of the backbone Internet systems we take for granted and later campaigned for online transparency and freedom. You can read briefly about his life, legal […]
Continue readingMore TagWhat Is Character?
What’s your personal understanding of “character”? I appreciate questions. I guess that’s one reason I still love teaching—I enjoy the challenge of creating an environment that fosters open, frank discussion. I value tough, sincere questions even though I often don’t possess answers. A few weeks ago during Rich’s Ride I tossed out a statement that […]
Continue readingMore TagPlease Don’t Make Me Start Over–repost
This article originally appeared February 8, 2011. * * * * * How do you escape the fate of Sisyphus? One of my first “real” jobs as a kid was a two-week gig at the Iowa State Fair. Each morning I showed up at 6 a.m. A supervisor handed me a sealed metal can with […]
Continue readingMore TagHow To Utilize A Shield
Have you ever actually used a shield? I’m not sure I ever have, at least not for real. But I’ve seen shields used a lot in movies and never really thought about how to use one until our pastor made an interesting observation a few weekends ago. It’s almost impossible to use a shield effectively […]
Continue readingMore TagLetter Or Spirit?
Do you think it matters “why” you do the right thing? Training for Rich’s Ride is teaching me a lot. If nothing else, riding mostly alone for 3-4 hours per day provides a lot of time to think. I thought I knew about getting in shape. There’s a process—you do certain things, follow the steps, […]
Continue readingMore TagIt’s All In Your Head
Have you ever been at a place where you thought you just couldn’t keep going? I was cranking up a long hill last week. I felt hot and tired and thirsty, and the shade from that big tree looked awfully inviting. It felt like I couldn’t possibly make it to the top without stopping. Internal […]
Continue readingMore TagWho Are All These People?
Are you a “people watcher”? Yesterday Becky and I did a nice holiday bike ride on the wonderful Fort Collins trails. One fun aspect of city bike trails is the variety of fellow travelers, especially on a holiday. You see every possible configuration, from serious athletes to families enjoying a leisurely morning in the Colorado […]
Continue readingMore TagJoy? In Adversity? Seriously?
Am I the only one who finds the following passage … uh … confusing? Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds. James 1:2 I don’t know about you, but I don’t normally associate “facing trials” with “pure joy.” I can face trials if I have to. I […]
Continue readingMore TagThe Secret To Life …
… is that there isn’t one. How did you respond to the “end of the world” predictions last week? I couldn’t decide whether to chuckle or cry. My personal inclination was humor. I joked about not paying bills, taking an insanely expensive vacation on credit—the sort of silliness that’s born of simply not taking something […]
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