Think About It

I have several things in my office that have been in my office for a while. The particular problem with these items is that they don’t work – and haven’t for a while. Oh, when I set them aside I had every intention of getting them repaired, the problem is that once I set them aside, I kind of forgot about them. In the beginning, I probably thought, “Oh, I need to take care of that problem” but each time I didn’t do it, it became easier not to do anything. Eventually, they just became a part of the background of my office and I ignored them. If I did an inventory of my office, I would realize something needed to be done, but until then they aren’t much more of an afterthought (if even that). The reason I bring up my broken items is to show how easy it is to ignore things that are damaged – even people. Sure, if we look for them, we’ll see them. If we do a specific inventory of them or their issues, we’ll see them; however, until we do they have a tendency to just blend into the ...

I get so many offers that, someday I am going to miss out on a really good one! I have been told that the Crowned Prince of Kenya would like to share his millions with me. I have gotten emails that tell me I can say good-bye to car repairs simply by paying SMALL monthly payments. I have left free prizes and inexpensive grand vacations unredeemed just because things seemed a little too good to be true. It wouldn’t surprise me if I haven’t already missed out on something that was both legitimate and a great deal just because I am tired of all the hype of the hucksters! Unfortunately, we face something like this in our religious lives. We live in a society that is constantly offering us something that is better told than true. There are promises of health and wealth if we join a certain church. There is the allure of fun and fulfillment if we seek out another one. It seems like everywhere we turn, someone is trying to entice us with something that will make us happier than we’ve ...

I am fascinated by tornadoes. I spent a lot of my life in the Midwest, so this time of year everyone kept at least one eye on the horizon. In fact, I have a picture of one of the most powerful tornadoes to ever hit the Wichita Falls, Texas in my office. I have always been a weather nut, but when people start to mention tornadoes, it gets my attention. Now, I need to be clear about something – I have never actually been in a tornado, so maybe that is why I find them so fascinating. I saw a small one a few years back, but there really wasn’t any immediate danger, so I still find them interesting. Those people who have experienced tornadoes don’t share my fascination with them – in fact, they may not even be able to discuss them without reliving the terror they experienced. The reason I share this perspective on tornados is a parallel I see in our society today. Have you noticed how eager we are to talk about people in crisis? We all have opinions about addictions – or homelessne...

For the last couple of years I have been trying to come up with a solution to the navigation and entertainment system in my car. (That’s a fancy way of saying I don’t like my car radio.) I know what I want, but I can’t seem to find it. Either it won’t fit in my vehicle’s dashboard or it won’t work well with an Android phone. Additionally, if I do find something that looks promising, I look at the price tag and wonder if the ability to listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd while mapping my course to see my granddaughters is really that big of a deal! I know what I want, why can’t someone just make it for me! The other day, during a recent rant, I got to thinking about how great it would to be able to build what I wanted. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to imagine your perfect solution, then build it? As I thought about this possibility, it took me back to the Old Testament book of Genesis. Isn’t that what God did during that first week of the earth? He envisioned the perfect world, then sp...

When I was a young adult, I would look at people who were forty and older wondering how they had made it that far in life! Yes, I considered them old – but I also wondered how they could be that mature and still not understand life! I was barely out of my teens and had all the answers! The older I get the more I cringe when I think about that “other self” from decades ago. Now, I wonder how I escaped being derailed by my opinions and how I avoided being punched in the nose for my cockiness! It is tempting to try to pick an era of life as the best, but thankfully God has allowed us to co-exist in a mutually beneficial society. We are at our best when we blend the zeal of youth with the caution of age. We can make a real difference by capturing the idealism of young people and the experience of maturity. We build bridges on the brawn of youth and the insight gained through the decades. When I was younger there was a lot of talk about a “generation gap”. As I look back on the dec...

Throughout the years people have tried to describe love. In fact, if it weren’t for the quest to understand love, I am not sure we would have a music industry. From the classics to modern music, people have poured their hearts into trying to describe love while others have opened up their ears (and their souls) to try to understand it. I think it is noble for people to seek to understand love, but there are times when we overlook some of the basics of love – at least godly love. While there are several levels of romantic love, Christian love is basically wanting the best for others and doing what needs to be done to provide it to them. With this in mind, the Apostle Paul defined love with, “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, beli...

As a brash adolescent, I was not happy when President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon in 1974. The two years between the discovery of the Watergate break-in and the pardon had divided the nation and brought our national integrity into question. As a know-it-all teenage, not only did I think it was a bad idea, I wasn’t sure it was legal to pardon someone before they had been convicted of the crime. Through the years I have not only softened on President Ford’s decision, I actually support it. I am still convinced that Richard Nixon was culpable for what happened in his White House; but what we needed at the time wasn’t vindictive accountability as much as we needed national healing. It was time to move forward and years of public litigation wasn’t going to help us accomplish it. Gerald Ford’s political career would never the same, but thankfully, our nation wouldn’t have to go through the divisiveness and public humility of the conviction of a disgraced president. As I think ab...