-
Positively Charged

While public speaking continues to remain the #1 fear in America, I am one of those strange people that actually enjoys it. When an opportunity presents itself to do some kind of public speaking, I get excited rather than anxious. In fact, I enjoy public speaking so much, I take time off of work so…
-
The Gift

The previous week was definitely a Smashing Pumpkins kind of week. As one of my favorite bands of all time, The Smashing Pumpkins are one of those artists that I can listen to over and over and over again and not get tired of them. Their first 3 albums; Gish, Siamese Dream, and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, are in my…
-
What Will You Do About the Itch?

It had been several days since the small, red rashes had appeared on my ankles. Yet my vigorous attempts at treatment seemed to produce no results. My cat had recently had ringworm (which also shows up as a red rash) so I assumed this must simply be me getting ringworm from him again. Accordingly, I…
-
Something is Going to Die

“And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him,“There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought…
-
Cleaning Up Misunderstandings About Dirtiness

“I heard you did stand up comedy.” Steve started, as he finished shaking my hand in the church lobby. “Yeah I did” I replied. “It was a blast”. The man with whom I was speaking, Steve Daugherty, is the teaching pastor at my church – but not just that – he is also one of…
-
A Matter of Perspective

For many, the battle lines have been drawn. The political beliefs that are deemed “right” or “good” seem very clear and anything that doesn’t agree with them needs to be opposed. Many social media sites are no longer friendly places to stay involved in the lives of friends and family, but rather, have become battlegrounds.…
-
A Penny for your Thoughts

Recently, I went shopping. The great thing about shopping post Christmas is that it is often a rather lovely array of extreme-clearance-money-saving bonanzas. Discount are piled on top of discounts so that once you’ve got 50% off an item that’s already 60% off where you also get buy one get one free, it practically feels…
-
Where is the Power?

It had been one of those days at work. Constant interruptions from coworkers with things they needed my input on. Interruptions from customers calling in with random requests. Tasks that should have taken a few minutes took several hours because the software kept crashing. Swarms of emails filled my inbox with various additional requests.…
-
You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Sometimes You Get What You Need

As I was driving towards my church last Tuesday evening, I had a very uneasy feeling in my stomach. I had that knot in my stomach that you get when something makes you feel really really uncomfortable. I didn’t quite know what it was about yet, I just knew it was there (and getting worse…
-
The Known and the Unknown

As I sat amidst my biological family for Thanksgiving, the usual routines all took place; people gathered on the couches in the living room around the tv to watch the football game, various comments ensued about who is doing well and why, what’s wrong with the refs, etc. The casual questions like “how’s work?” were…