A recent breakfast with my friend Bruce McNicol continues to mess with my mind. Bruce asked me a couple of thought provoking questions and they continue to bounce around my cranium. Yeah, I know there is lots of room. I was sitting there innocently enjoying my oatmeal and catching up on mutual friends when he dropped one of the questions on me. “If grace based theology as the way to live out the Christian life is true then why is it not more popular in the church?” That may be a paraphrase but that is the essence of his query. That is a great question. I have been swept away by grace. My life, my ministry, my marriage and my relationship with Jesus have been transformed. Yep…it has been that dramatic. So why aren’t there more revelers on the grace train? And why are so many afraid to even board that train and take a ride? I think part of the answer is control. When
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“Be the kind of physician that you would want to have if you were sick.” With these words, Dr. Arnold P. Gold welcomed the incoming class of medical students at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons last month. As thrilled parents looked on, 168 young men and women sat expectantly in the school’s auditorium, their white coats folded over their arms, each waiting to be called to the front of the room and “cloaked” by a senior physician. This marked the 18th annual White Coat Ceremony at Columbia.” Dr.Sally Satel wrote those words in the Wall Street Journal as she observed a growing tradition in America’s medical schools. The “cloaking” is a symbolic way to remind the physicians going forth to serve their patients and do no harm. Dr. Satel continued her piece. Dr. Gold, a white-haired and avuncular pediatric neurologist, popularized the practice years ago because, he said, “medical students were becoming enamored of technology and were losing the
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The Wendy’s restaurant chain has been running an ad campaign that shows the difference between real and fake. Using a clever series of visuals the commercial illustrates that sometimes things that appear real are anything but real. A man precariously climbing a tall building slips and only then do you  realize that he is actually on the ground. A green screen background created the illusion that he was in danger. Another shot shows two men with a full head of hair. One brushes his real hair while the other embarrassingly watches a gust of wind blow his fake “do” off his head. The catchy tune is designed to demonstrate that things aren’t always as they appear and, ultimately, you know when it is real. Wendy’s tries to make the point that they use real and fresh ingredients in their menu. I pondered if the same catchy slogan can be applied to those who wear the title of Christian. Can you know when faith is real in the
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Jeffrey Zaslow wrote an interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal detailing how the younger generation places less value on the advice of their elders.  When Amy Turek informed her parents that she wanted to have a destination wedding—on the beach in South Carolina—they gave her their best advice. “They told me, Don’t do it. It’s too inconvenient for guests, too ‘vacationy,’ too selfish.” Her parents and other older relatives “were actually horrified,” says Ms. Turek, who is 28 years old and lives in Wheaton, Ill. Ms. Turek disregarded her elders’ advice and is getting married later this month by the ocean. “The older generations totally mean well,” she says, “but they’re giving advice based on things they did in the past, when times were different.” We do totally mean well you young whippersnappers! Totally! I have to admit that I was amused as I read this article. Serves us right since my generation was the generation of don’t trust anyone over thirty. We rocked
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In a recent post I described the healing power of a room of grace. In that room you find acceptance instead of rejection. Understanding instead of judgment. Sadly such a place of God’s grace seems more the exception than the norm and that was communicated in this thoughtful response from a reader. But where do we find that room of grace, where we are accepted, where people run to us in acceptance, instead of running from us for being broken? Too many in the churches are broken-hearted themselves, are facing terrible situations they don’t know how to cope with. Most don’t seem to even know we are in a battle with Satan to discourage us so much that we don’t know how to seek God with faith. Those who CAN’T attend church are mostly forgotten or invisible. (I’m not even speaking of those who don’t want to go.) That honest and heartfelt lament made my heart sad. Where do you
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(The latest iPod Devotional. Check it every Monday at theFish.com) One of my failed career bits was as a disc jockey at 1000 watt powerhouse WCHI in Chillicothe, Ohio. This was back in the days of turntables and actual vinyl records. I got to pick my own playlist that was mainly Top-40 pop. Unfortunately my playlist was often influenced by my emotional state. I didn’t even realize I was doing that until a friend pointed out that I had played a whole set of depressing, losing at love songs on that day. So I would play B.J.Thomas singing “Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” followed by “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart” from the Bee Gees followed by “She’s Gone” by Hall and Oates. I might as well have gone to commercial with “I’ll be jumping off the broadcast tower right after this”.  Not sure the sponsors (except maybe beer and counseling centers) wanted me to be an electronic
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This has been a tough stretch in our little television freelance community. We are an odd lot of characters who bring sporting events and live television into your homes. I often say that we are basically like carnies except with fewer tatoos (although that gap is narrowing). We go into a town, set up the show, perform, tear down the show and go on to the next town. But one of the things I love about this business is the sense of family and community that we develop. So hearts are heavy in our world with the passing of two wonderful members of our television family. We have a lot of good guys in our business. But two of the best died just days apart. Cancer claimed our friend Jay Hamlin and a massive heart attack took our friend Tom Cox. When I remember old friends the first thing I generally think of is their smile. Jay’s smile was mischievous.
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