And that is our problem. We know what to do; in life, in ministry, and in business. And if you don’t know what to do, someone will happily tell you (sadly most often from the same source as your “knowing” comes from). There is no blank slate to start from…
My mind goes to examples from scripture that highlight such “knowing” and reveal it’s source.
Continue reading “We Know What To Do”
Why do most major issues become rapidly politicized and fought over, with fixed battle lines and endless strategizing? Who wins with this approach? Who loses?
We are living in a time where everyone is looking for the “high ground” of being the “one” who is right. Not to mention the immediate huddling into opposing camps, consolidating power, shaming and reproach of opponents, and basic devaluing of the dignity of ourselves and others. Looking for the high ground in a conversation, and especially in an argument, robs us of the benefits of the perspective of others. The robbery happens when we need to prove our points as superior and ultimate.
Continue reading “Overcoming Politicization”
I travel, safe to say I think, more than most. As I type I’m on a plane. I travel about every other week, sometimes more. Maybe this is why I’ve noticed we have a problem down at the local Micky D’s. Especially when driving cross country, you are looking for a convenient, quick and clean place to get rid of that coffee you really had to have a few hours before. But you can’t buy a meal every time. Stops kill your time results. Also, you aren’t hungry, but a cone sounds nice! Right? Wrong.
My last rendezvous with this fact was quite recent, and this angst has been building for a while, to be honest. What can I say, I like ice cream.
My wife and I were about to get into a stretch of I-20/59 that is pretty sparsely populated. We called an audible and took the exit. Would it be false hope that the Golden Arches inspired? I told her as we pulled in, “I bet you $10 the ice cream machine is broken.” When we walked out, I wanted to know where my money from the bet was. Oh, I wasn’t surprised, but more like the final squeaks of a balloon that’s loosing all it’s air, my final gasp of confidence in getting a cone from this place (or it’s billon other locations) left me with a grunt. I’m done, I told her. Let’s never stop for anything at McD’s ever again. She agreed.
Oh, the irony!
Continue reading “The Ice Cream Machine At McDonalds Is Broken”Some people tend to attribute anything they dislike to the intentional design of a few influential “others.”
Karl Popper
There are topics that chase you everywhere, and even if you want to avoid them, sooner or later must be addressed. Conspiracy theories is one of them.
The Church is experiencing a real division between those who support and disseminate conspiracy theories and those who consider them only the result of ignorance. The main channel used for this kind of discussion is social media.
We all know how difficult it is to have constructive and calm discussions on social media networks or on messaging groups. This is the result of a combination of several concurrent factors, including the absence of body language, the presumption of knowing other’s ideas before he or she expresses them, and a limited knowledge of the medium and its communication rules, the so-called “netiquette”. Yet, we persist in using them to proclaim our truths to the world expecting to solve, with a few posts, issues that have been discussed for centuries.
Continue reading “Are Conspiracy Theories Biblical?”
