There has been a politically correct Christmas greeting that has circulated the internet for the past couple of years. Best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, but with respect for the religious persuasion of others who choose to practice their own religion as well as those who choose not to practice a religion at all. Perhaps that should be adopted as official “safe“ greeting for all people who are spinally challenged. This year’s big Christmas controversy has been the suddenly in your face anti-religion tactics launched by some atheists. I wrote about what I considered to be a mildly amusing advertising campaign by atheists in Washington D.C. But some people in Washington state have taken a rather ugly turn in their attempt to have a voice during the Christmas season. A group called Freedom From Religion placed this sign near a nativity scene
Continue reading...

During one Christmas past I posted a story about the decision by a Wisconsin elementary school to rewrite the lyrics of “Silent Night” to make it acceptable for the “winter program”. The unfortunate choice for a new title was “Cold in the Night”. And the new lyrics went something like this. Cold in the night, no one in sight, winter winds whirl and bite, how I wish I were happy and warm, safe with my family out of the storm. That is wrong on so many levels. Why not just have the kids sing “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” and go on home. Some things just shouldn’t be done. It is like the old Jim Croce song…”you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, you don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger, and you don’t rewrite Silent Night” (New Revised Version). Re-reading that post brought to mind a legend I had heard all of my life involving the real song “Silent
Continue reading...

Today’s Peanuts comic strip in the Dallas Morning News featured Linus, Charley Brown and Snoopy all laying down and propped up against a big tree. Linus, the philosopher, offers this question. “If you work real hard and you get everything you’ve always wanted, it it worth it?” Charley Brown looks thoughtful but Snoopy the pragmatist has an immediate reaction. “Not if your dog doesn’t like you.” Hard to argue with that. If your dog doesn’t like you there is a pretty good chance you are a miserable human being. Since I am widely known as a deep thinker I meditated on today’s Peanuts strip. Snoopy is certainly spot on in his analysis. But I would suggest the question impacts other relationships as well. If your pursuit of possessions causes you to not have time to love your wife well then it is not worth it. If you cannot spend quality time with friends and family it is not worth it.If you cannot find
Continue reading...

Today is a revisit of a “Christmas Classic” from Christmas past. How does a blog become a classic? 1) It is your blog, your site, you pay the server charge and you can call it whatever you want2) You have no time to write today Enjoy! And Merry Christmas! One of my contributions with this modest little blog is to continually ask the tough questions. While listening to  “Away in a Manger” on the all Christmas radio station my inquiring mind kicked in. You likely know verse three of the song. The cattle are lowingThe poor Baby wakesBut little Lord JesusNo crying He makes As I listened an important series of difficult and probing inquiries popped into my head. What noise, exactly, were the cattle making when they started lowing? Was this normal cow talk? Did lowing just sound more intelligent than mooing for the lyric writer or is lowing a more godly cow sound? And then the most important question came to mind. What is wrong with me? I can’t answer the last
Continue reading...

One of the bummers about getting older is that you seem to go to a lot of funerals. It is always a sad time but I have to tell you that some funerals are a lot better than others. Of course for a Christian it is always a comfort to know that the departed had put their trust in Jesus as their Savior. But even that factor does not always make a funeral seem uplifting even in the sadness of loss. I was thinking about that yesterday as I drove home from still yet another memorial service. This service left me with a smile and feeling inspired even though I knew that many would miss this man tremendously. This particular service was for a man I did not know personally. I am a friend of one of his sons and family. So I went and listened to what others had to say about a man I did not know myself. I knew
Continue reading...

(This is a no time to write day. So I am recycling a gently read post from Christmas past. Hope you enjoy.) When I was a kid the holidays politely waited their turn in line. Thanksgiving would take the baton from Halloween and then pass it along to Christmas.  Now the Holidays clamor for attention like a spoiled child at the mall. I have been receiving Christmas catalogs for weeks and the stores were filled with Christmas displays by Halloween. By the way, you will note that I am a proud user of the term Christmas for the December 25th event that is known on the federal calendar as Christmas Day.  That was a bonus mini-rant. No charge. Last year I wrote about what I wanted for Christmas. I started with a list of things I really, really wanted. Everything at the Bose store The coolest new phone  Several pounds of books Dozens of DVD’s Then I listed everything I really, really needed. Uhhhhh…. Uhhhhh…. Uhhhhh….
Continue reading...

I rarely suggest that anything I write is a must read. There is a simple reason for that. Most of what I write is not. Today is the exception not because of my writing skill but because of the subject of this article. I have been deeply touched, moved and a little shamed by the story of an amazing little boy from Lynnwood, Washington. KOMO News in Seattle reported the original story on November 7th. When Brenden Foster was first diagnosed with leukemia, he and his mom began a new tradition. Every night they list three positive things that happened during the day, and they have to share a laugh. A chuckle will do, Brenden said, but a fake laugh will never do. In the last days of his life, it was a homeless camp, namely Nickelsville, that captured the boy’s heart. “I was coming back from one of my clinic appointments and I saw this big thing of homeless people, and then I
Continue reading...