Think About It

If you would have come by my house about 35 years ago, it would have been a mess – and so would I.  Back before we had personal computers, doing taxes involved a lot of papers, math and weeping.  I had a card table where I would spread out my documents, forms and an adding machine and go to work.  I would figure, refigure, rearrange and refigure again in hopes that I could come up with numbers that both the IRS and I could live with.  In addition to the process being time-consuming, we didn’t have a lot of extra money, so I would run the numbers several times making sure they were right.  However, that was only half the battle – then we had to try to figure out how to find the money we owed!  When I think back on the good old days – these weren't part of them. Now, with more technology and better budgeting, Tax Day is not nearly as stressful for me (or for Jeane).  However, in spite of the difficulties, I was blessed to have been raised by parents who ...

Have you ever set out to make a change, but never really got around to it.  Sure, most of us do this sometime around January 1; but that’s kind of socially acceptable.  However, have you ever really tried to change and just never really pulled it off?  If you have ever found yourself failing in a legitimate attempt to change your life have you ever wondered what happened?  Could it be that we never really committed to making the change?  We may have rearranged some habits, but weren’t committed to stick with it.  As I was thinking about this the other day, I came across this New Testament passage, “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5).  As Paul called upon the early believers to change their ways, he called upon them “die” to their evil ways.  He didn’t say to ignore them or try to set them aside, he told them to put them t...

On this day in 1815, Mount Tambora in Indonesia erupted in what has been called the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history.  In all honesty, I had never heard about this until a couple of days ago, but what I read was pretty impressive.  In addition to all the typical fall out from a volcanic eruption and usual devastation, the long-term effects seemed to last for months.  According to one article I read the usual killing frosts and snows of the winter of 1816 in North America and Europe extended into the summer months – which led to crop failures and starvation.   It’s hard to imagine how one event could have so much of a lasting impact across such a vast region – or is it?  On a spring day about 2000 years ago a convicted criminal (who had been executed a few days before) was seen walking around Jerusalem.  In addition to creating some excitement on that day, the presence of the risen Jesus continues to influence our world today.  His tea...

What is the best way to deal with people who disagree with us?  I don’t know if things have gotten more adversarial than they were in the past, but I do know they don’t seem to have gotten much better.  Maybe it just seems worse because there are so many different ways to proclaim our dislike for our adversaries, but there is no shortage of ways to tell the world who we don’t like and why we don’t like them.  Even if we don’t use names, it is pretty easy to get our point across.  Over the last few years, I believe that we have identified diversity, unfortunately, we haven’t done much positive with it. If we are willing to look for a way to deal with our conflicts, the Bible provides a blueprint; however, it is probably not going to be a popular strategy because Jesus taught, “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:27-28).  Jesus was not One to advocate gett...

I am having one of those weeks.  If you were to look at my calendar, it would look like a multicolor puzzle.  I have all kinds of different things going on in all kinds of different places.  While I like to keep busy, this week is kind of testing my limits.  In fact, if allow myself, I can get a little overwhelmed by things.  Now, the reason I share this with you is not to impress you or even solicit your sympathy, it is merely to remind myself to take things one day (and one event) at a time.  I need to be prepared for what is going to happen and put myself in position to do what I am supposed to do by being where I am supposed to be.  The only way to do that is plan each day and work that plan.  If I would allow myself to overthink things, I would probably be tempted to do it, so what I need to do is slow down my life by taking each day and each thing at a time. Are you feeling overwhelmed?  Are you worried that you are going to miss out on...

When most of us open Proverbs 22, we head right down to verse 6.  After all, one of the best-known proverbs of all time is, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.”.  Now, even though that is insightful and encouraging, there are a lot of other words of wisdom in this section.  Take, for instance, verse 1, “A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, favor is better than silver and gold.”.  Living in the modern world, we are apt to be taught to pursue financial security (and we begin to get uncomfortable when the market and other fiscal concerns begin to wane); however, our bottom line isn’t necessarily the bottom line.  To live a rich, full life we need more than financial security we also need to maintain our reputation and relationships.  We need to be trustworthy and we need to work together. The ability to make our way through modern economics can produce a sense of long-term security, but let...

Since baseball season is officially off and running, I thought it was time for a quote by one of the great minds of baseball – Yogi Berra.  Now before we open up the words of wisdom, I want to remind you about the guy.  Berra wasn’t just some ballplayer, he was elected to the Hall of Fame – not as a “character” but as a star.  As a career New Yorker, he had a batting average of .285 and hit over 350 home runs.  He was an 18-time All-Star and won ten World Series Championships as a player and three as a coach.  Not bad for a kid who grew up in The Hill in St. Louis.  Yet, maybe one of the least known facts about him was that he was married to his wife, Carmen for 65 years.  (Maybe that qualifies them for the Marriage Hall of Fame.) Okay, enough of the serious stuff.  According to Sage Yogi, “The future ain’t what it used to be.”.  Now, before I let that sit a bit, I want to point out that even though on the surface it might seem nonsensical, I...