Travel can be wonderful. But business travel is generally more like death by paper cuts. Last week I landed and was still a bit famished even after the eight tiny pretzels snack I was graciously given in flight. So I began to peruse the food options. I spotted a smoothie stand and that sounded perfect. So I headed over and made my pick. “I will have the Peanut Butter Zone smoothie.” The worker turned and looked at the menu as if that order was a complete surprise. Maybe she thought she was being pranked for one of those cable shows. Perhaps I was making stuff up. She carefully examined the ingredients on the menu board and turned to me. “We ain’t got no peanut butter.” Disappointed but still determined I pushed on. “Then I will have the Protein Power Berry smoothie.” Slowly she turned to see what ingredients might be in this order which also appeared to take her by complete surprise. “We ain’t got no protein powder.”
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I know my tens of readers are anxious. Where has the sporadic wisdom and accidental insight been this week? I whipped up a fresh blog on Monday and tried to post it. An annoying sound effect told me my effort was denied. I tried again by pushing the send button harder. The sound effect mocked me. My technical guru Robin gave me some fixes. Nothing but sound effects (I added a couple). Now we are getting into actual computer stuff. Robin is sending me things to try written, apparently, in Sanskrit. Meanwhile your humble rambler is stomping in front of the laptop banging two stones together trying to get a spark. “Thor no get fire! Blog no work!” So here we sit. Robin is trying to communicate to unfrozen cave man and the wandering tens of readers are left without a bad example. While we continue to resolve this issue allow me repost a previous article (I can do that) to tide you over until
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Yesterday I was driving home lost in thought. I have been teaching about grace and I was thinking about the tension between grace and law. Flashing red lights behind me gave me a good and unwanted illustration. I had to smile at the incongruity of thinking about grace and getting caught by the law. I had been a traffic sinner. The law said I was guilty of going over the posted speed limit. I confessed my sin. I tried for grace from the officer. “I have gone twenty-five years without a ticket,” I said affably. “Sorry,” he answered as he handed me the ticket. He was not in the mood for grace and, to be honest, I didn’t deserve it. So there was an expensive illustration of the law without grace. The law showed me my wrongdoing. A penalty was assessed and had to be paid. Without grace I had to pay the penalty. So I will write a check to the city of Garland
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Sometimes I wonder how we will be grouped in heaven. Will there be an eHarmony kind of questionnaire to assign us to the right small group? St.Peter:    Okay…tell me a little bit about your favorite sports teams.Me:           I rooted for the Cleveland Browns, Baylor football and the Texas Rangers.St.Peter:    Whoa. Hey Job! We have one for your group! Over the years the Ohio State Buckeyes have given me a lot to rejoice over but recently the times have not been as good. Last night I watched my beloved Buckeyes lose a heartbreaking game. I shared the excitement and the agony with fellow Buckeye transplant and dear friend Mark. Neither of us struggled to find our inner child during the game. Our antics were far more entertaining than the game to the lovely Mrs.Burchett. This morning I awakened and tentatively opened one eye. Sure enough, the sun had come up and life appeared to be rocking along. Earlier in my life journey a
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One of my favorite comedians is Steven Wright. He is the thinking man’s stand-up comedian. Here is one of his classics. “I’m addicted to placebos. I’d give them up…but it wouldn’t make any difference.” Think about it. Dictionary.com defines a placebo drug as a substance having no pharmacological effect but given merely to satisfy a patient who supposes it to be a medicine. Some would suggest that all religion is a placebo. Friedrich Nietzsche said that “Faith means not wanting to know what is true.” I realize there are many people of faith who fit into that category. I can speak only for the Christian faith and myself. I have spent many years seeking what is true. I have tried to the best of my ability to be honest. I have read the arguments of thinkers on all sides. I have studied the life of Jesus. I have researched other religious figures. Why would I not want to know what is true? Why should I waste my time, money, and questionable talent on a faith that is false? The men
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Today I accomplished one of my least favorite tasks of the year. Taking down the Christmas decorations always makes me a bit melancholy. One of our Christmas staples is a yard display that spells out “Joy”. The sign is simple yet the nativity scene incorporated into the letters clearly communicates our feelings about what this holiday represents. As I took down the display I thought about the reason I love this decoration so much. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great JOY to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!  (Luke 2, NLT) That is where I place my joy as I head into a unstable New Year. I find my joy in the Messiah, the Lord – who was born in
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I am taking a respite from the humble ramblings for the rest of this year. Some accused me of already mailing it in by recycling some previous Christmas articles. However, I had to point out to those accusers that these are holiday classics! How does a blog become a holiday classic? It is easy. Start your own site, pay the server fee and you can call your posts whatever you want. Plus recycling those posts kept me from having to purchase carbon offsets to reduce my blogosphere carbon footprint. To be safe, I did plant a Chia pet. To placate my sometimes needy tens of readers I have compiled a Baker’s Dozen of the most read articles of 2008. There is a snippet from each article and we begin with number thirteen. 13) Everybody Want To Go To Heaven? A tune by Kenny Chesney is chock full of catchy rhythms and bad theology. The song is called Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven but the underlying theme is that nobody wants to go
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