Today a brief email from youngest son generated a lot of memories and a few tears. Brett has taken his spring break from Baylor University to join his fraternity friends on a mission trip to do some volunteer work at a Christian camp. I found an email from him this morning with a little post script that brought unexpected precipitation in the orb area.  A little background is in order. Brett had a big sister that he never knew. Katie was born with a terminal birth defect and died when Brett was just a baby. Yet he is aware of  the amazing impact of Katie’s short life. She would have been twenty-one this month. Her story is detailed in When Bad Christians Happen to Good People and you can read the first part of story online. Here is Brett’s note. P.S.  Katie’s life affected a lot of people tonight when I shared her story after a guy was struggling with seeing God’s purpose for everything.  It also made me realize how
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Yesterday I happened to look at the blog odometer and noticed I had already passed the century mark for posting these humble ramblings. I thought it would be interesting, instructive, and perhaps frightening to sort through the stats and see which articles resonated most with you. So here are the people’s choice for the top five posts. Number 5     Forgive? I don’t wanna. I was amazed at the response to this one. There is a fundamental lack of understanding among many about what forgiveness looks like from a biblical point of view. For example… “I cannot agree with the concept that Christian leaders are exempt from accountability or are in some way authorized to break laws, to damage lives and then say the victim must forgive, as a Christian, you must forgive. The idea of Christians being victimized and told to forgive makes me sick.” I never said that Christian leaders are exempt from accountability. In fact the top two posts will revolve around that very issue. Here
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I think I am going to start posting a warning label so the Spiritual Hall Monitors will be alerted to the fact that my blog may contain humor or, according to some, attempted humor. With this warning they can avoid encountering humor, satire, and sarcasm that might trigger an allergic reaction for the sullen saints. Warning: The following post may contain humor. This blog was produced in a program where irony and satire are processed. May contain sarcasm fragments. I think that singer Chris Rice may understand my plan to post the humor/satire warning. Rice is a wonderful song writer. My IPod features many of his songs and his lyrics resonate with me. I could have written the song Clumsy (if I had any musical talent) You think I’d have it down by nowBeen practicin’ for thirty yearsI should have walked a thousand milesSo what am I still doin’ hereReachin’out for that same old piece of forbidden fruitI slip and fall
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There is a game show on NBC that is generating some interest called Deal or No Deal. I am not a big fan of the show but it did generate a little spiritual analogy. Let’s suppose that some thirty-six years ago Jesus had come to me in person and offered the following deal. Jesus: “So here is My deal for you. I will forgive you of your sins and relieve you of the guilt and fear that they have burdened you with. I will give you the assurance of eternity spent with me. I will be there throughout your life to teach, console, strengthen and bless. Just ask me and I will provide.”Me: “Wow.” (I wasn’t much of a wordsmith at sixteen)Jesus: “By the way, I know that your relationship with me will lead you to a beautiful and Godly woman who will be the love of your life and who will help you become the person you want to
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While out walking one day a local pastor noticed a young boy trying unsuccessfully to reach the doorbell of a house. The pastor decided to be a Good Samaritan so he walked up behind the boy, put his hand on his shoulder, leaned over and firmly pushed the door bell. Crouching down to the boy’s level the pastor smiles warmly and asks, “Now what, young man?” The boy looked at him and said, “Now we run!” That is how I feel about today’s topic. I am going to post and run. In recent weeks I have written about the Biblical requirement for forgiveness and I have found out that not everyone agrees with my views. Some didn’t forgive me for saying you have to forgive! I am going to violate the principle espoused by humorist Will Rogers who said that “when you are in a hole, quit digging.” Today I am going to suggest that we all need to examine ourselves to
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A story in the Dallas Morning News today confirmed one of my deepest beliefs. The biggest problem with kids sports is adults. As the father of three sons; I have seen the effects of the traveling squads and elite teams. Sure, some scholarship athletes come out of those programs. But the unseen consequence is that we (alleged adults) have sucked the fun out of childhood sports for a large percentage of the participants. Warning…geezer rant directly ahead:  I remember playing sandlot baseball for hours because I loved the game. I also played in an organized league but my joy and love for baseball came from the hours of camaraderie built around the sandlot games. I learned more about tough negotiations playing in my friend Vic’s backyard than I ever learned in school. For example, we were able to hammer out the Hirn Street Treaty with this rule. Any ball hit into Mr.Moore’s garden is an automatic out because we are
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Today’s Peanuts comic strip features Charlie Brown’s sister Sally struggling to spread frozen butter on her toast. Finally she exclaims, “Nobody told me life was going to be this hard!” I can understand Sally’s frustration. Life is hard. This was not in the brochure. Or at least that is what I once believed. In fact that very information is in the brochure. The Bible is very clear that life will be a journey of struggling to spread frozen butter and worse (that is a paraphrase). Much worse. I am going through one of those frozen butter times right now but I have come to understand that those times are part of the journey. God has given us a wonderful gift that we too often leave unwrapped. The gift of laughter. The following excerpt is from my sporadically selling book “Bring’em Back Alive – A Healing Plan for those Wounded by the Church.”  I believe a sense of humor is one of God’s gifts to help get us to the
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