So I read the passages from the lectionary this week and cringed. If there are going to be any passages that I find cringe worthy and just in general try to avoid it would be the ones you heard this morning. I have a list of passages that I struggle with and avoid preaching on … [Read more…]
Today we heard about a time in the history of the Kingdom of Judah where market values on property have just bottomed out. Not too different than what happened in the housing market crisis here in the United States in 2008. After the boom in the market we have recently experienced. I am waiting for … [Read more…]
The other day, I was getting ready to take both my kids to school. Unfortunately, my son dawdles some mornings. He won’t come sit down and put on his shoes. He’ll sometimes complain that he doesn’t want to get in the car. There is always some excuse for not doing the work to get ready … [Read more…]
When I was a child it didn’t take much to scare me. I was scared of the dark, the woods after dark, the family dog (the meanest dog you’d ever meet), Freddy Kruger (thanks to my older brothers), and vampires (thanks to my best friend). I remember very clearly, when together my best friend and … [Read more…]
In my experience rules can be good at setting appropriate and needed boundaries and at other times rules can be little more than a way to hinder progress and good works. Rules can save lives and rules can prevent progress. I read a book called The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg some years ago … [Read more…]
My son loves Spiderman and my daughter is a ghost spider fan. They run around pretending to be Spiderman and pretending the web anyone they deem to be bad guys, which is just about everyone. They try to do flips and saying that they are going to save the world. My kids are no different … [Read more…]
My parents are keen to remind me that I was not a sharer when I was growing up. I was very possessive of my things. One memory that is always shared was when my cousin Josh, who was just a few months younger than me, would come over to play, I would gather up all … [Read more…]
One of my earliest memories is my fascination with the telephone. We had one of those old rotary phones that my parents rented from the phone company. I loved the motion of swirling the dial to call someone. I love the click, click, clicking of the dial as it went around. It was the only … [Read more…]
When I first started working at the hospital, on my first overnight shift there was an emergency that came in around the midnight hour. There had been a gang related shooting. In response the ER shutdown refusing entrance of any non-hospital staff. In the midst of the emergency the doctors and nurses called the chaplain. … [Read more…]
When it comes to maintaining faith, it can be very frustrating when you feel like God has not answered your prayers. We all have what seems like unanswered prayers. And it only gets harder as those unanswered prayers seem to come when we are praying for dire things. When I was young, I was bullied … [Read more…]
