To be honest this may only be the biggest mistake that I am willing to write about with the knowledge that internet postings have the shelf life of plutonium. Years ago I wrote a book with the provocative title of “When Bad Christians Happen to Good People”. In that book I was incredibly candid about the damage that Christians often do in the name of Jesus. I expected to get roasted for my candor about my faith. For the most part that didn’t happen. Perhaps those who most needed to read it didn’t recognize their need to read it. A couple of fans of one heretical televangelist decided I was on the express train to hell. Who knew they could read? I took the most heat for a chapter where I cleverly (I thought) tried to use a political situation to make a spiritual point. Bad idea. I mean a bad idea along the lines of tank tops for middle-aged men and Spandex for almost everyone.
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(This article was posted earlier at theFish.com. I post an iPod Devotional every Monday at that site. Hope you will check them out) Real and honest relationships are messy. If you take the chance to be known and get hurt it is easy to build a wall. If you take another chance with the same result it is easy to build a fortress around your heart. And that is tragic. Sara Groves is a powerful lyricist with a great voice. That’s a very appealing combo plate. Her song entitled “It’s Me” is amazing. She captures the insecurities, old stories about our past and selfishness that leads to relationship meltdowns. And those moments seems to come out of nowhere. weather came and caught us off our guardwe were just laughing and feelin’ alrighthad such a great time just last nightwe walked into a minefield undetectedyou took a tone and I took offense anger replacing all common sense oh run for you lifeall tenderness
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“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” — Rogers Hornsby Baseball marketing genius Bill Veeck once said there was one sure way to know that it is spring. “The true harbinger of spring, is not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on a ball.” Maybe one of the most endearing charms of baseball is that it begins in the spring. The teams show up in Florida and Arizona while much of the nation grows weary of gray and gloom. As the weeks of spring training go by the trees back home start to come to life and buds peek out of the once frozen turf. Spring training is the first hope of summer. Today I get to live a little boys dream and go watch spring training baseball. Sure it is my job. But it is still magic.
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The Skeptical Believer blog written by Jeremy Seely wrote a very nice review about my book When Bad Christians Happen to Good People. Oddly enough Jeremy let me know that he was reviewing the book while I was doing a rewrite of that very book. It will be republished in the next several months with a lot of new content and even more bad Christians! Seriously, the new edition will reflect a lot of my journey since that book came out nearly ten years ago. If you choose to buy the current edition just know that everything you don’t like will be revised or removed in the new, inspired version. Right. Here is just a sampler of Jeremy’s review. When Bad Christians Happen To Good People will shine a laser beam into your own heart to show you where you personally can do better, and will motivate you to actually do it. And in so doing, you’ll feel yourself drawing closer to Jesus.
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Sandra Bullock had an interesting week. She won a Razzie for worst actress in All About Steve. She earned an Oscar for Best Actress in The Blind Side. Both were probably deserved. But this article concentrates on the good movie. The Blind Side is the true story of Michael Oher. Michael was taken from his mother and bounced from place to place in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Memphis. A white couple (Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy) take Oher in and rest of the story is a heartwarming journey that examines the power of love, affirmation and stability. Oher was a first round pick by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2009 NFL Draft. I loved the movie. I urge you to support this movie because it  portrays Christians and family values in a positive light. In the words of Mel Allen, “How about that!”.  I was hit from my blind side by an interview that Sandra Bullock did with World Magazine. Here is an excerpt from the piece written by Megan Basham. Sandra
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Dog friend Hannah loves the morning walk. When she sees me grab the walking shoes she begins to vibrate with excitement. If T.Boone Pickens wants to find an untapped energy source we should harness Labrador tails. Got to think Hannah could power a small apartment building when she gets excited and that tail starts going. I love the morning walk as well. It is a time to meditate, pray, listen to messages and good music and enjoy God’s company. The walk is pretty much the same each day for Hannah. She checks for new messages left by other dog friends on her social network. Sometimes she leaves a reply. She gets excited when she sees another person or dog or, to be honest, anything breathing. Hannah loves life. But I noticed something about my canine friend today that caused me to reflect on my own faith journey. Hannah is happy to just get out and go walking. The fact that she is on a leash
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A lot of my colleagues over at Crosswalk are great at coming up with lists of things to do. My buddy Ray Pritchard wrote a great article titled Seven Reasons Not To Speak When You Are Angry. He also came up with 25 Reasons to Give Thanks When You Don’t Feel Like It. Holy Cow. After trying two or three things on the list I start being distracted by shiny objects and squirrels. The most read articles are often 8 ways to do this or 11 ways to do that. So today I tried to come up with my own article featuring a snappy list. So far I have “Six Things I Screwed Up Yesterday Because of My Own Self-Sufficiency” and “Seven Times I Didn’t Tame My Tongue This Week”. Hmmmm. Then I saw an article at Yahoo.com about a scientific study that shows five ways you can be happier. Let’s work with that. Here is part of that article. Some scientists have argued that happiness is largely determined by genetics, health and
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