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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The word of the day/week/month/year is hope. If you vote correctly you will have hope and if you vote in the next ten minutes (Ohio voters only) we will throw in change and free shipping. I am not bashing a particular party here. I have lost hope in both parties after the events of the past two weeks. Hope as defined at dictionary.com is to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence. Reasonable confidence. I wish I had marginal confidence in the political leaders. But if I sound depressed let me to assure you that I am not. I am a little sad that that so many people really seem to be placing their hope for happiness on a political candidate. I do believe that leaders make a difference. I care deeply about making an informed and prayerful choice. I always research and vote. But I never place my hope or desire for change on a politician. The word hope is used about 80 times in the
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One of my favorite comic strips is the usually funny and occasionally disturbing Pearls Before Swine. Yesterday the resident bad guy (aptly named Rat) is singing the John Denver song “Country Roads”. When asked what he is doing Rat answers that he is planting “earworms”. An earworm is a term for a portion of a song that becomes “stuck” in your head and you cannot get it out of your mind. Soon you are literally out of your mind. A survey of several hundred students came up with a list of the most insidious earworms. Chili’s “Baby Back Ribs” jingle (“I want my baby back, baby back, baby back…”) Who Let the Dogs Out (“Who let the dogs out…woof, woof, woof, woof…Who let the dogs out…woof, woof, woof, woof…”) Kit-Kat candy-bar jingle (“Gimme a Break …”) The Lion Sleeps Tonight (“We-de-de-de, de-de-de-de-de de, we-um-um-a-way – drum fill – We-de-de-de, de-de-de-de-de de, we-um-um-a-way…A wimoweh, a-wimoweh a-wimoweh, a wimoweh”) Note: That also makes your spell check go
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The group Casting Crowns is a consistent favorite of mine. One of my favorites from the group is a song is called “Stained Glass Masquerade”. The title says it all. This song speaks powerfully to the all too human desire to be phony at church so that the others (who are also acting phony) will not think less of us. To have an impact in this culture we have to be genuine, real, authentic. Young men and women have a phony detector that is tuned to pick up the smallest deceit. I am tired of the phoniness. I am tired of the masks we wear. Just reading the lyrics will not give you the total power of this song but it will give you a taste.  Is there anyone that failsIs there anyone that fallsAm I the only one in church today feelin’ so small Cause when I take a look aroundEverybody seems so strongI know they’ll soon discoverThat I don’t belong So I tuck
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