Rip Van Winkle is the short story written by Washington Irving in 1819. It chronicles the story of a Dutch American who meets some other guys, drinks far too much of their liquor and falls asleep in the Catskill mountains. Of course, falling asleep in the mountains doesn’t sound half bad, except for the fact that my …
Stealing Barbara’s line I woke up around 2:00 this morning for my first trip to the bathroom which has now become part of the old man’s unenthusiastic routine. As I tucked myself back into bed, the book by Barbara Brown Taylor entitled Leaving Church kept flashing like a neon sign on dream street beckoning me …
A Disclaimer To say the last two-years or more of all our lives has been a whirlwind of “shit-storm” proportions is to state the obvious to anyone whose existence is at least partially still defined by the fact that they think, therefore they are. And by that, I mean still thinking even as the excrement …
Read more “Rene Descartes, A Conspiracy Theorist and a Democrat Walk Into A Bar”
Boys Outside of the Cocoon Hood It was probably about 6 years ago now that I met Eugene. It was just after my wife and I embarked on a new journey of refuge living by the sea hoping we’d finally find the answer to “God knows what”. Eugene is now in his late eighties as …
There is an oft repeated quote attributed to Alex De Touqeville, a French historian who wrote Democracy in America in the early 1800’s. The quote says that “America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great”. Of course this is where the water …
“And there she was, like double cherry pie”. O.K., I know. This is a startling opening line for even a renegade Christian blogger/preacher-man such as myself. But now that I’ve got your attention, let me explain. I can remember when this song came out in 1997 while I was entering into my 33rd year on this earth, already past …
I used to know something in my heart a long time ago. Somehow innately, I knew that though the Lord loves us all unconditionally through grace alone, but that He actually searches “to and fro” for, and thus more readily “strongly supports those whose heart is completely His”. We find this recorded in II Chronicles …
Just the Facts Ma’am It was Sergeant Friday who coined the phrase “Just the Facts Ma’am”. It stuck in our minds as something that should be quite obvious to anyone. If you just produce the facts, then the truth easily becomes “incontrovertible”, as Churchill would add. To be sure Postmodernism (which has been with us …
To be sure, pastoral ministry has some wonderful perks. After all, a pastor makes their living (or should) in much prayer; laboring over the word and its correct exposition; administering soul care to the flock; and doing their best to do the work of an evangelist in the culture they find themselves in. In addition, …
To say I’ve been in search of God’s true presence all of my life would be a gross understatement. It seems that ever since I was a child, whether it was watching my late father painstakingly read and underline the holy scriptures or being ushered into the meeting house where God supposedly dwelled, I have …