Life at 3 miles an Hour

I'm sort of a literalist. Some might say a simpleton. That's alright with me. I think that it takes less effort to think the way I do. It takes less effort, but much more faith. I'm one of those simplistic people that believe that when Jesus said "I am the way", he really meant it. I believe that when the bible says that creation took six days, it really meant six 24 hour blocks of time. After all, He's God right? I believe in an all powerful, all encompassing God with no limits. If He says it, who am I to doubt that He could actually carry it off. The church that I serve with believes pretty much the way I do. That's why I choose to serve here. I don't agree with everything, but what I do appreciate is their practice "No creed but Christ, no book but the bible". It makes things less complex. Less complex leads to more faith. I've been studying the concept of observing "the Lord's Supper" recently for a sermon series and it ...

I don't think that I've ever been as impressed with the design of our bodies as I have been this week. My wife's back quit working the way it was supposed to. It's been a very painful process for her. It's been a very humbling one for me. I'm being reminded everyday of the immeasurable ways she contributes to our family. I'm being reminded of how much I miss her being able to go anywhere with me. I appreciate the freedom of movement even more. I'm also being humbled by realizing the greatness of God's design. It's amazing how intricate the human body is. Our systems are so interconnected and developed that it only takes one small tear in one joint to almost totally immobalize the whole system. It has, if anything, strengthened my faith in an intelligent designer. It has given me many questions to ask you who are reading this who might be followers of Darwin. For example, How many years and how many mutations did it take for a spinal column to dev...

I'm of the opinion that life in 2005 has become merely a spectator sport. It's a cosmic NASCAR race where 140,000 watch 40 go around in circles for hours. It's great entertainment while it lasts and you can watch it from the side, maybe with a hotdog and a coke. When that's over there's always someone doing something else that you can watch. There's xtreme sports and xtreme games and any of a dozen xtreme makeovers. Instead of encouraging people to live life outside of the box, they've simply become another market to attract those many who watch those few live life to it's fullest. Reality television. It's the ultimate oxymoron. We now watch job interviews, trips around the world, boring blind dates, idiot celebrities behaving badly, and questionable cuisine choices. These events all used to take place only in the private lives of the participants involved, but we became so depsperate for more things to watch that we had to dig for more. Bruce Spring...

It's been a long time. I'm not sure if anyone missed me here, but I missed being here. I really don't know who, if anyone, actually stumbles onto this space in cyberland. I've been gone for the most part of three weeks various places with a commitment to not hang around my lap top. It was good to escape for awhile and wise to not drag my world along with me. That's the whole point of escape isn't it? There is value in getting away. There is also a price. One price is that the amount of time it takes you to recover from time away is exactly double the amount of time that you actually were away. For example, as I prepare to leave for a week away, I am consumed the week before with getting last minute things done. I am then consumed the week after with catching up on what I have missed. One week away costs me two weeks. So it only makes sense that I would not take any of the life I am trying to escape from with me. The other cost is time away from the...

I'm older now. I'm older than last year, older than last month, older than when I got up this morning. What does older really mean? Some people think that older means wiser. In theory I'm sure that could be true, but it doesn't always turn out that way. I think that you need older with intent. I see older people all the time who are making the same ridiculous destructive and debilitating mistakes that they were making ten years ago. Older with intent means that you are an observer of life. You are a life long learner. Moment by moment you are learning what is important, relevant and life giving and filtering out the nonsense. You are living intentionally instead of anonymously bumping through life and relationships with no purpose. Much has been written in the past few years about purpose driven living. Far be it from me to rain on anyones parade, or book sales, but I don't think it is complicated enough to warrant books, bible studies, DVD's and stu...

Sometimes I write to say something. Sometimes I write to get something to say. Does that make sense? It does to me. It's the dead zone. When I say that I have nothing to say, what I really mean is that I'm having a life moment when no coherent thoughts are readily available. Some who have read anything I've written may wonder if I've ever had coherent thoughts. Anyway, I'm out of them. So I'll write until one comes across this screen. It make take awhile. It may only take another sentence, or another paragraph. I know I'm not alone in this. The whole reason some people never write is that they never feel they can communicate a coherent thought. I feel that mine are sometimes divinely inspired so I guess when they're not there, it might mean that I'm not being divinely inspired. Some people express this by saying "I just don't feel God". I don't know if I ever"feel" God in that sense. Is He really there to fe...

I'll write this because my wife will never see it? I've had people from coast to coast tell me that they've read some of this junk on here, but the one who sleeps right beside me has never even seen one of these posts. It's not that she's not interested. She keeps encouraging me to write this stuff. She knows it's like therapy. The reason she never reads it is because she is very phobic when it comes to internet technology. It's mostly a lack of confidence in my opinion. This is one of her most tragic flaws. I call it tragic because most people I know at one time or another when they spend some time around her realize that they are in the presence of greatness. She'd have a fit if she read this, so feel free NOT to share it with her. As I spent this past week wrestling with the idea of Mother's Day and how that would all fit in to Sunday I just couldn't help but reflect on the greatness of mothering that I've been priviledged to be around for...