(Yesterday I wrote about a church in my town (Garland, TX) that took out a full page ad to admit they had been wrong. I had written earlier about my journey to learn how to admit that I have a well developed capacity to be wrong. Since this is “Admit You Are Wrong” week I decided to re-post that article today). There are a lot of fun things about being a published author. For example, you are forever a published author even if you end up in a lonely bargain bin at some godforsaken outlet mall while some smiling preacher sells millons and millions of books for saying practically nothing but I’m not bitter. Whew. Didn’t see that coming. One of the really bad things about being published is that your words are forever “out there”. When you write a book your words cannot be denied. That is unless you are Charles Barkley and you claim you were misquoted in your autobiography. But Charles…your autobiography is
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I was just about finished with my daily dose of depression from the morning newspaper when an advertisement stopped me cold. It was a full page ad from a local church. The headline in the Dallas Morning News screamed out in big, bold letters. We Were Wrong “We followed trends when we should have followed Jesus. We told others how to live but did not listen ourselves. We live in the land of plenty, denying ourselves nothing, while ignoring our neighbors who actually have nothing. We sat on the sidelines doing nothing while AIDS ravaged Africa. We were wrong; we’re sorry. Please forgive us.” That is a powerful and sobering admission. I was shocked. And I was greatly encouraged by the courage and the humility needed to admit such an embarrassing message to the public. Since I loved the ad I am sure Springcreek Church in Garland, Texas will get a lot of criticism. I don’t think like a lot of
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I wish this article was more encouraging. Every year in the illustrious history of the humble ramblings I have breathlessly brought you the results of the M-LAW (Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch) Wacky Warning Label Contest. The contest is conducted to reveal how lawsuits, and fear of lawsuits, have driven the proliferation of ridiculously common-sense warnings on U.S. products.The reason I am reluctant to publish this right now is because of the over arching implications of these labels. The same people who apparently need the warning labels we are about to see are going to vote in a few days for the leader of the free world. God save America. Let the stupidity begin. Honorable mention went to a warning label found on a letter opener that says: “Caution: Safety goggles recommended.” “Please don’t let any human see me donning safety goggles to open a letter from Aunt Bee. But if I don’t put on the goggles I can’t sue if there is a
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The whole world seems a little shaky these days. The political climate is discouraging and draining. My retirement just got delayed until I am 110 years old. I am a devoted Cleveland Browns fan. Can it get any worse? I usually don’t think too much about my days in the legalistic church I grew up attending. You might remember me talking about the First Church of Jesus Loves You But We Probably Won’t. But for some reason today as I was praying, meditating and thinking about the state of the world and the AFC North I drifted back to that church. In particular I thought about a little old lady who always sat in the third pew on the right. And I remembered how she used to belt out hymns with great gusto. She usually wasn’t within sight of the correct key but she didn’t care. One song that she loved to sing off-key came back to me today. Standing On
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(Under the weather today…please enjoy a gently read previous post) Recently I suffered a nasty bout of writer’s block so I decided that if I was going to be unproductive I might as well watch television. That philosophy of time management has been challenged on more than one occasion by the lovely Mrs.Burchett. Surprisingly the dip into the often vapid world of cable television proved productive. I stumbled upon a fascinating History Channel feature on Ben Franklin. I knew Franklin as a brilliant statesman, inventor, writer and a bit of a scoundrel.  Courtesy of www.earlyamerica.com But I did not know that in his autobiography the venerable statesman admitted a radical plan.  “I once conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection.” Wonder how that worked out? Benjamin Franklin could have saved himself some aggravation by reading Paul’s letter to the Roman church. Hold that thought. Franklin outlined the thirteen virtues he desired to master. Here are his baker’s dozen of admirable traits as
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For the record, I have been quite willing to admit that we Christians are often flawed in how we live out our faith. The title of my first book (When Bad Christians Happen to Good People) might be a clue that I understand that Christians often miss the mark. Trying to communicate a message as complex as the need for justification and salvation is tough within a two hour movie. I saw the movie Fireproof before I read a single review. Only after seeing the movie did I read what is being said about the movie. To say the least, I found some of the comments puzzling. Here is a brief synopsis of the plot. Kirk Cameron plays the role of firefighter Caleb Holt. He is successful and respected at work but not at home and his anger bubbles over at the smallest slight. Wife Catherine has grown distant from her self-centered husband. Caleb obsesses over buying a boat and has an internet pornography problem. Catherine begins to find the
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My buddy Ed Underwood has a blog that you may want to check out. His weekly post is called Tipping Points and he offers the same intermittent wisdom that you have come to expect from this site. The bonus is that Ed offers wisdom with fewer words than your humble rambler. After posting my article this week I opened up Ed’s offering and found that great minds (and minds like ours) think alike. Here is Ed’s take on the current political scene. Because of ego and a lack of self-confidence I rarely give my space away. I am proud to give this space to my friend Ed Underwood. Belief You Can Change In! Change seems to be the issue of this presidential election. One party promises to bring change we can believe in and the other warns that we need change we can depend on. This tells me a couple of things about our country. First, everyday people want change because of a deep dissatisfaction
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