It was a stark image two days ago in Cincinnati, Ohio. A whole football team on their knees praying, surrounding a gravely injured teammate. A stadium of 60,000 fans silent, many most likely also in prayer for this 24 year old Buffalo Bills player named Damar Hamlin. He had experienced a cardiac arrest after tackling… Read More Every Life Important: 2023 Begins
I have been thinking again recently about the dangers of cynicism. It can so easily grow in our lives, to the point where it overwhelms our hopes and turns our longings into dust. So many world and national events can contribute to a sense of powerlessness: slow recovery from the pandemic, or fears it will… Read More Have your longings for change turned into cynicism?
The timing of this post’s subject matter may seem off at first glance. As I write this, the battle for Ukraine and especially Kiev continues. The incredible courage of the Ukrainian leaders and people in the face of a massive onslaught is inspiring much of the world. It is unknown at this point where this… Read More Have you ever seen a frustrated tulip? Or a worried bird?
There are a lot of circumstances and people that can cause us to be a ‘victim’, some real and some imagined within our own minds. This post is not to make light of the kinds of traumas that can happen to us, but to suggest the importance of living in a way of increased freedom… Read More A ‘steward of our own brokenness’ or ‘playing the victim’?
The image with this blog post may be pretty disturbing, unless you love zombie and living undead movies. A hand reaching out from a grave. Perhaps I meant to publish this two weeks ago on Halloween and missed my timing? But as stark as it is, it resonates with a mental impression I had a… Read More Have we learned to grieve our losses and disappointments?
Anyone notice a level of anger and even outrage increasing in society? Whether it is ‘road rage’ incidents on highways, or flight attendants facing unprecedented harassment and hostility, or restaurant employees dealing with boorish and overly demanding people, many of us are emerging from pandemic lockdowns with ugly attitudes. Where is this coming from? Certainly… Read More Are we living in anger and outrage?
The future is a scary place. Especially when hope is scarce and fear is allowed to run rampant. I hear and read of so much fear right now. It comes from across the political spectrum, both from the right and from the left. And sadly the Church is caught up in it all, not often… Read More Dueling Nightmares of the Future from Right and Left
Weren’t the struggles of Covid-19 enough? The lockdowns, the layoffs, the careers and dreams postponed or ended. And just as the impatience for a new normal grew to a breaking point, three weeks ago in Minneapolis, Minnesota happened. George Floyd. Protests grew by the day, demands for change that are not new. And they still… Read More Trust in the slow work of God
Eggshells. Brittle things, really. Easily broken. Useful only to throw out after eating the egg within. We may use the metaphorical expression that we are ‘walking on eggshells’, indicating how fragile or risky a relationship or social situation is. But the reality is that not only do we sometimes walk on them, but that we… Read More Walking on eggshells
As I write this post there are about twelve hours left in the year and the decade. Asia in several areas has already entered 2020. A word that has kept coming to me as we enter a new year is shift. There are global shifts ahead of us in the coming year and certainly in… Read More End of year and decade musings
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