On the eve of this year’s American Memorial Day, I have a few thoughts to pass along for anyone inclined to celebrate. In my own efforts at showing love by listening for the most accurate understanding I can possibly give, I hear what amounts to a near consensus (among my fellow Americans) of concerns, make that complaints, about the issue of responsibility. People who identify as conservative seem highly concerned about the lack of personal responsibility here in our l

On the eve of this year’s American Memorial Day, I have a few thoughts to pass along for anyone inclined to celebrate. In my own efforts at showing love by listening for the most accurate understanding I can possibly give, I hear what amounts to a near consensus (in today’s America) of concerns, make that complaints, about the issue of responsibility. People who identify as conservative seem highly concerned about the lack of personal responsibility here in our land. T

So this is why we can’t have nice things. Whenever I hear words to this effect, the context is the same. Something has been broken. And the one who didn’t do it but knows who did has something to say about it. To the one who did it. In no uncertain terms. As if to say “don’t ask me for nice things ever again if you’re going to just turn around and break them after I buy them for you.” This feels to me similar to our context as people of today’s world. We’re not a

Strange question. Right? I’m hoping so, because that’s what God has mostly called me to do here on earth. Ask strange questions most people aren’t asking. As a pastor in Church this has previously cost me some favor by those in power. And perhaps that’s why I’ve gone back to my prior role as a therapist in the area of behavioral healthcare. At least there it’s more expected, if not always appreciated. I write this here simply to preface what it means to me to as

How happy are you these days? What goes into your answer? Do you have some “why” and/or “why not” in mind as you consider your own level of happiness? Do you care about others’ happiness? Does it matter to you whether people in your country or beyond are happy or not? Does that affect your own level of happiness? Perhaps you are aware of something called The World Happiness Report. I recently learned this Report was sponsored by the small Asian nation of Bhuta

I guess I’m telling you something you already know about me, God. I’m enraged these days. That is, I have a level of anger built up inside of me that is beyond simple annoyance, and thus meeting the dictionary definition of “rage.” By being in rage or enraged, I carry this angry emotion in my body and mind in ways that feel like a 100 lb. weight. It’s not good for my body’s health. So it’s up to my mind to get it out of my body somehow. Get it off my mind. Turn my “

I thought of this word, “whither,” in connection with the events taking place in today’s world and then stopped. I felt uncertain. Self-doubt. Googled its definition just to be sure. Yes. That’s the right word: meaning “to which place or state” we are headed. I feel uncertain that we are headed into World War III. I have a lot of self-doubt. Always have. But I just may be right that we are, if I can put it more bluntly, already in this War to transcend all pr

If and when you get old like me, there is a good chance you may find yourself taking note of how the world has changed over your lifetime. Sometimes for the better. Sometimes not. As I prepare to turn what seems to me like a very big 8-0 next year (a point I not so long ago considered to be some ancient relic of old age) some things seem increasingly clear. First, some things haven’t changed at all. For one, bad things still happen in the world. Evil still exists

What a year it has been. If suffering has not reached us personally, no doubt it has touched others we know and care about. "Peace on earth, goodwill to men" may seem like magical thinking to you. One step above Santa Claus lore. If only. There are years like that for all of us. Years when we just don't feel it. And can't imagine it within our own minds. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow faced such a year. It was 1864. Our nation had been at war with ourselves. Th

I used to expect God to be in control over pretty much everything. If something happened, I figured God was the Almighty One who either caused it or allowed it. Something good happened, God was the One who caused it. And something bad? God could have stopped it, but instead allowed it to happen; for reasons God alone knew why! God was always in control over the universe, micromanaging from afar. God was omnipotent, able to start or stop anything God so desired.

Is it just me? Or do Americans seem to be getting angrier with each passing year? Or month? Week? Day? Sure, we’ve had road rage for years and years. Middle fingers of fate have been waved across horn-honking intersections for as long as I’ve been around. School or playground bullies have too often had their way probably since, well, schools and playgrounds, I would suppose. But I can’t get over how rude people are toward each other over seemingly nothing these d

WHAT IF GREATNESS ISN’T GREAT? MÜLLER-LYER ILLUSION – What do you notice about the relative lengths of the two red lines? The arrowheads and arrowtails alone may affect your perception of the line length. In this image, those lines are extended to create a dimensional drawing of walls, where the red line in the far corner appears to be full wall height, while the closer red line is not. But the red lines are actually the same length. Okay, so maybe you’ve seen this or on

It’s been 8 years now since I finished writing and eventually publishing my book, “Love’s Resurrection: its power to roll away fear’s...

As of today, I’m still free to speak my piece in these pages without fear of any aspect of our government arresting and incarcerating me...

Wanted to write and thank you for showing us a nice time; us meaning Sue (wife), Shawnee (our little Dachshund), and myself. Yes, Sue...

Has it ever seemed to you that people you know and care for have believed a pack of lies someone else has told them about, well,...

So I received a recent ad on-line from a Lutheran Seminary. (I must have accepted some cookies sometime back.) Invited me to a new...

As a Christian pastor, I always had a rather different theology than seemingly everyone else. The tribe I could most comfortably belong...

In the Bible’s Old Testament we can read about what the ancient Jews referred to as the coming “Day of the Lord.” In the Hebrew (יֹום...

Today begins what the Christian Church often calls the “passion week” of Jesus Christ. Much attention is paid to the final events of...