This writin’ bidness can be dangerous. My greeting from an old buddy in Nashville this week went something like this. “Thanks a lot for your blog about the SI swimsuit issue. You didn’t leave me with too many options.” I smiled tentatively and hoped he was kidding. Thankfully he was graceful in his objections. But the reality is that my friend did have options. He could choose to sin. I have made that choice in the past regarding the SI swimsuit issue. Christians often choose to be a bit more nuanced when we describe our own personal sin. We prefer words like shortcomings and mistakes. I have decided to quit playing word games with a God who is not fooled. I am a saint because of Jesus. But I still sin because the old nature still craves attention like a spoiled child at the supermarket. I am definitely getting better as I understand my identity in Christ. But my sin nature is
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 Because the presidential nominees are still in doubt we Texans get a rare “treat” this primary season. We get political commercials from now until March 4th.  Whoopee. And we get political rallies as a part of our new status as a key state in the delegate process. This week a packed arena in Dallas hosted Barak Obama. The atmosphere was more like a revival than a rally. A lot of people are into the Obama “Hope and Change” tour. I always hesitate when I write about politics because nothing brings out the thin-skinned loonies quicker than a perceived slight of their man or woman. So please understand that this post is not about critiquing a candidate. These thoughts are about our culture in America and, in particular, the Christian demographic. The electric atmosphere at the Dallas Barak Obama rally and hearing his recurrent message got me to thinking and that is always a dangerous thing. I was thinking that God must have a real
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Being a celebrity in this culture is brutal. Great coaches will often say they will break down an athlete to build them back up. The idea is to make them better. Our culture has a little twist on how we treat the famous. We build them up in order to break them and tear them down. The idea is to make us feel better. Celebrity is hard on families and the children of the famous. I have often told my kids that I love them so much that I took the burden of mediocrity on my career just for them. They didn’t believe it either. Yesterday Barak Obama saw the cycle of celebrity run over him, hit the brakes and back over him again. Obama got caught repeating almost verbatim the language of an earlier speech delivered by a friend of his, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. His response yesterday was a bit defensive and suggested that his opponent also “borrowed” phrases from him.
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The morning stroll with dog friend Hannah was delightful. The sun was shining and the air was brisk. Hannah found hundreds of p-mail messages to sniff in her version of the world wide web. On the iPod I dialed up the series I am currently devouring on the book of Romans. The series is called the TrueFaced Grace Series and it is by the same knuckleheads that have been rocking my world with the book TrueFaced. I wrote about the book in a recent post called the Santa Clause is Comin’ to Town Theology. Today’s passage was from Romans 5. I am placing my marginal reputation on the recommendation that you check out this book and/or CD series. What hit me on the stroll today was how I seem to ration grace in my life as if it is in short supply. I picture myself like those old movies where the guys are stuck in the desert with one canteen of water
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This week marked a couple of rites of spring. The reporting of pitchers and catchers to spring training and the arrival of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. For me one is a “right” of spring and the other is becoming a “wrong”. I was on the road when the swimsuit issue arrived at my home. The lovely Mrs.Burchett led me into a marital minefield with this simple statement. “Your swimsuit issue arrived today.” She waited. Work brain, work! Must step carefully. Following the lead of Nehemiah I “prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered”.  My response was simple. “Throw it away.” Joni thought she had (to quote Roger Clemens) “misheard”. “What?” “Throw it away. I don’t need to see that.” I think I surprised the Missus. This has been a process for me. I have gone over the years from eagerly anticipating the SI issue to guiltily perusing it to quickly flipping through the magazine and then tossing it. This year I never even saw
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This Valentine’s Day is approaching the two year annivesary of D-Day (that is Diagnosis Day for cancer patients). I will gaze at my bride across the table tonight and see the same beautiful woman that I saw two years ago. The sparkle is back in her eyes, the hair has returned and Joni looks wonderful. Tonight I will treasure the moment. But I remember a lesson from the cancer journey. Beauty is so much more than the standards our shallow society sets forth. Here is a piece I wrote during our breast cancer trial. One of my smart aleck remarks that I use periodically is that “I am not burdened by that whole maturity thing.” There are many times when I go about demonstrating that in real life. But the unwelcome intrusion of “life” into my happy little routine has caused me to evaluate a lot of things. God is teaching and revealing a lot of things to me during our
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In our last episode… A recent post about whether Christians should sit out or perhaps cast a protest vote in this year’s election has generated some spirited response. Let’s hear from you along with some unsolicited comments (as always) from yours truly. Our first comments come from Russ who tried a crazy idea. He decided to go to God’s Word, spend time with God and pray. If too many follow Russ’s lead we could be threatened with unity so we must tread carefully. Maybe that is the sarcasm that reader Larry noticed in his comments yesterday. Here is the result of the crazy prayer idea. So basically after I went to God, prayed and became revitalized, it was clear what I must do. First, stop letting the media scare me into thinking we do not matter. Second, prepare to vote, keeping in mind, there are other races other than President (Senate, House, State legislatures, etc) and to seek out good candidates to support that will represent what
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