When 2022 started, I decided to set a few goals for myself. One of them, you see here- a commitment to writing something on this blog every day. Another goal I set was to read through the New Testament during the year by taking it one chapter at a time, reading just 5 chapters...
Read more →In today’s reading in Mark, out of chapter 7, the Pharisees try to corner Jesus and his disciples about how their eating practices look a lot like defiling behaviors before the law. But Jesus will not let them take him there. From where does personal defilement come? From what is ingested, or from how...
Read more →“But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” – Matthew 19:22 In Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Gospel authors each tell the story of a wealthy young man who comes to Jesus and asks him what one must do to enter the Kingdom of Heaven....
Read more →I have a sense of where to go with the Ruby story, but just do not have it in me tonight to whittle the next chapter out. Too tired. I will just say Thank You to my folks for raising me around the Bible. The world is weird. Progress says that all of our...
Read more →Sing, little sparrow, morning’s come on. The branches are blowing, here comes the dawn. The hounds will soon find me, my run will be done. I will float down the river in the afternoon sun. I was never a killer, my hands loved to work. I stole nothing wrongly, I learned from the Word....
Read more →Jesus… said to him, “Follow me!” Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” – John 21:19-22 It’s...
Read more →It’s Christmas, so it’s as good a time as any to think about the holiday, and what it means to me. It is, after all, besides a commercial boon, a religious holiday, focused on the birth of a child according to a very popular book, who was all human and, at the same time,...
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It’s the middle of April, and so Easter is upon us again. Active in church, I can easily forget the big picture of it all, and so when Easter comes around, I try to take some time to remember- why is church important? Why do I pour so much time and thought into this...
Read more →The Gospel is first described in the New Testament as the message that Jesus and his followers shared with those they encountered about the Kingdom of God. “It is near”, they said. It’s also the message that Paul says his life was set apart for, that inspired his missionary journeys, his work with Gentiles,...
Read more →It may be a stretch, but I think the best scripture passage I have heard that is probably most helpful for the addict is the story of Jesus with the Samaritan Woman, found in John 4:1-26. I became aware of this when I heard my cousin Jeremy Pummel preach a sermon from this passage...
Read more →Tonight I had an interesting experience, which was a good one, but one I’ve had a number of times before, and every time I have it, it tests me. I went to dance with our dance club friends at a local club for the bulk of the early evening, and then I went with...
Read more →Anne Lamott says that if you want to be a writer, you need to sit down each day, and regardless of whether or not you are crazy or mentally dead or narcissistic, try and write at least a paragraph. Get one paragraph down of something, and let that stand, and aim to do it...
Read more →It’s a bit after 10 this evening, and looking back on the weekend, it was a good weekend for catching up. I was happy this weekend to catch up on my dishes, my laundry, and general housekeeping. I was able to hang with some friends from the dance club on Friday night for dinner,...
Read more →I’m a melancholy. This means I often wade out into each day half-cocked, one foot in and one foot out, anticipating morning misgivings and wishing my work space was a mattress-lined, dimly-lit den, and that my work was simply to wake up and go back to sleep five times a day. My mood grabs...
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