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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Last week I posed this question: Should Christians sit this election out? You responded. Today we take a look at some of those responses with comments from your Bad Christian Laureate. First some thoughts from those who disagree with me. I understand the point you are trying to make BUT!!!!!! I believe that our responsibility as a Christian out weighs our responsibility as an American.   Not sure what to make of the all-caps and highly exclamated “but”. Nonetheless, the point of my article is not whether our first priority is to Christ or to country. I think most Evangelicals would answer that without debate. It seems to me that scripture is clear that we have dual citizenship. Our top priority is as future citizens of heaven but we have responsibilities in this life as well. The writer continues…   I served in the military and do not take the privilege of being an American lightly, but I believe that our
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A news story this week from Christianity Today amused me. The headline was provocative. Super Tuesday Results Show Split Between Evangelicals and Their Spokesmen I am an amateur evangelical anthropologist. Like Jane Goodall I go into their habitats and study their behaviors. Since I am one of the species it is easy to assimilate into their culture. My first journal, When Bad Christians Happen to Good People, was a result of my time spent with these fascinating creatures. From my observations a couple of immediate questions came to mind as I read the headline in Christianity Today. When did we get spokesmen? Unlike dentists on TV commercials I can’t get four out of five evangelicals to agree on anything. Have these reporters not previously observed that evangelicals are an unruly lot and that our primary conflict resolution strategy is to split? (Note to the humor impaired: The comments above were good-natured jesting. Please back away from the send button) The rest of the story was a bit
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