We hear a lot of things.  A whole lot of things.  We’re incessantly bombarded with sheets and shards and streams of information.  It’s about bits and bytes and boatloads of data that we ingest and digest without even realizing that we’re doing that.  Either consciously or unconsciously we compile all of that sordid stuff into some sort of choppy … [Read more...]

Am I paying attention?  As this thing called life moves ‘round about me, and I move ‘round about within it, am I paying attention to it all?  Am I paying attention, or have I unwittingly confused a host of other behaviors and habits as paying attention?  Am I paying attention, or have I adopted certain views or biases as ready templates that I slap … [Read more...]

History has pivoted on ordinary people who when faced with extraordinary circumstances drew on some deeply submerged essence of their humanity and were, in those most harrowing of moments, transformed into extraordinary people.  There are those who held themselves of no accord who stood in harm’s way or entered the dangers of the fray and turned … [Read more...]

It seems that the idea of taking a stand is perpetually taking a beating.  The whole idea of taking a stand is driven by the conviction that at certain times the need to take a stand is unarguably undeniable and inescapably inescapable.  Taking a stand is taking a risk, and sometimes a big one.  Unfortunately, not many people take a stand.  But … [Read more...]

Our humanity is ingeniously fashioned in a manner that it can handily break the realities that would seek to break it.  Our existence need never be held hostage nor pressed into servitude to the sordid realities of all that is happening around us.  Rather, we are able to stand in spirited opposition to those realities, and in the face of them we … [Read more...]

My life is spent in holes more times than its not.  Some are deep and some are not so deep.  I have this maniacal tendency to go from one hole to another, rarely staying above ground long enough to understand what above ground looks like.  Instead, I’m repeatedly looking up from the bottom of some hole that I don’t necessarily remember falling … [Read more...]

Both the space and the tolerance to speak the truths of God into the mounting chaos of the 21st century seems to be rapidly diminishing.  Clearly, there is a formidable wave of mounting dissent that opposes God with an ever-accelerating intensity.  And in facing such a foreboding reality, how do we speak the saving truth of the Gospel into our … [Read more...]

We all have our proverbial soapboxes.  Sometimes we find ourselves hauling them out on a regular basis, standing high atop them and vigorously pontificating on whatever we’re pontificating about.  Other times they’re rarely used except in those most exceptional moments when circumstances are of such magnitude that not pulling them out feels as … [Read more...]

When we get frustrated with people and begin to skirt the periphery of hatred, maybe we should consider a few things.  When we come to despise them and wish to rid ourselves of them, maybe we should ask who they really are and what they’re really experiencing.  When our tolerance level has long been surpassed and rage is all we know, maybe should … [Read more...]

I’m often left with the frightening realization that when someone has made up their mind, all of the logic, and all of the facts, and all of the truth that we can gather up and bring to bear in some sort of meaningful dialogue is meaningless.  People are not interested in meaningful dialogue.  Rather, they’re simply interested in promoting their … [Read more...]