Head-dibs

The young man stood in the valley, craned his neck back thought to himself, "I am going to climb that mountain." Filling his canteen and with walking stick in hand he struck out, crossed the road and began his climb, one foot in front of the other. Sometimes his boot trod solid ground, or clambered over the salt-and-pepper granite. Chipmunks chattered at his passing and Marmots watched from the boulders, ready to sound the warning squeak. He wondered if he could remember where the Mountain Lion den was, so he could avoid that path. Stepping higher and higher, sliding over shale, now in sunshine, now in shade, he stopped from time to time to catch is breath. The valley began to grow beneath him and over his head, he could see the peak. "That didn't take long." He thought to himself. Icy water from his canteen revived his resolve and he struck out again, tramping and supporting every other step with his walking stick. Climbing higher and higher until at last, h...

Sorry, Yoda. I disagree--there must be "try" because sometimes a "do" may look like a "do not," and if one does not try then the "do" becomes a "didn't" and the opportunity is gone. When one stands at the brink of "do" and one "does not," then one has acted out of fear. He has not "tried," thus killing his chance along with that part of himself that should have known, could have known, victory. "Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." (Frank Herbert, Dune) Think of those who tried. They may have died because they tried. But they tried.  They did not fail.  They died "doing." Families are born because parents try.  L...

Of all that I’ve forgotten, I sometimes wish I could forget my first dream (the first I actually remember) as it truly was a nightmare. I must have been only 7 or 8 years old and for some reason, I was truly terrorized in my dream--I can still see the images vividly. Years later, 1986 came and went, sort of just slipped by as if a dream (more like a nightmare) and like most dreams I have presently, I certainly don’t remember most of it—and of course, the parts I do remember I wish I could forget. The Wilson Sisters and their band “Heart” gave many of us a sound-track for the year with their pop hit, “These Dreams” in which some were the princesses and others the prince (whatever that meant to our drug-induced, hormone-driven, sin-pattern behavior). As time passed we learned our sleepy thoughts, images and emotions had to become goals or purpose for living—for those that lived to tell. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and I am not talking about the one he had to rule the world. His dre...

The richest chords require some black keys.

When the cowboy applied for health insurance, the agent asked his routine questions about previous accidents--had he had any? The cowboy replied, "No, sir. Last year I was bitten by a rattlesnake, and a horse kicked me in the ribs. That laid me up for a while." The agent said, "Weren't those accidents?" "Nope," replied the cowboy. "They did it on purpose." The cowboy knew, perhaps, that where God is in control, there are no such thing as "accidents."

It's all catching up to me again: Sunday School, we are taking a break from Mark and spending a couple of weeks on Philippians 4:1-9. Ethics--spending the next couple of weeks on Genetic Engineering, which to me is a "non-issue" when you remember how a theological basis redefines everything (short version: man is not God). We find ourselves awash with all these ethical delimmas that should not be happening! I will be introducing the topic tonight with Huxley in one hand and Chesterton in the other ( Brave New World vs. Eugenics and Other Evils ). Writing these lectures are killing me--getting a theological response to these issues is necessary, but not easy! Family: this whole teenager thing is really rocking the boat. I learn something about kids: you feed them, they grow. I am learning every day how much parenting is more about discipleship than anything else. A friend of mine (a Kenyan pastor) smiles when I complain. "Look at how strong God is making you in all...

Rather than take the time to express to the great burdens that lie on my heart and wallow in the emotion that pertains thereunto, I submit the following exerpt to remind both of us how we are to think and believe God. Be encouraged, brethren! ********************************* Romans 8:28 Strong faith has a firm persuasion of God's over-ruling Providence--so comprehensive as to include the destinies of empires and worlds; and so minute as to extend to individuals. Strong faith believes that God's Providence is . . . ever active, ever directing, ever controlling, and ever subordinating all things to His own purposes and plans. Strong faith is a conviction of this great truth--so deep, so satisfying, and so tranquilizing--as not at all to be shaken by the chaotic aspect of human affairs, or the prevalence of gigantic evils. A weak faith must give way before . . . the deep mysteries, the confounding events, the defeats of what is good, and the triumphs of what is evil, which are pe...