• Friends,  God,  Holidays,  Kids,  Traditions,  Uncategorized

    Well, this is embarassing

    Uh.  Hi.  Remember me?  I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t, considering that my last blog post was more than 3 months ago.  However, in my defense, life has been crazy for us lately.  A good kind of crazy, but crazy nonetheless.  I really haven’t been keeping up with reading any other blogs either.  So, if you’ve posted some earth-shattering news, and haven’t gotten a response from me, I do apologize.  I’ve sort of been out of the loop.  I’ve heard rumors that blogs are on their way out, that blogging is dead, etc. (which I totally do NOT believe; we Americans are much too narcissistic to ever let such…

  • Bible,  Christianity,  Church,  God,  Marriage,  Money,  Theological Discussions,  Uncategorized

    Bad Tither

    First of all, I have to give credit to the snappy title of this post to its creator, Mr. Wes Whitener.  It’s a song of his by his band The Sheeps.  You should totally check them out.  They rock.  I’ve been thinking about that song a lot lately.  I hope he’s not going to expect any royalties.  Cuz I ain’t got ’em. As you’ll soon realize further into this post. So, a while back, in this post, I mentioned duplicity.  Duplicity is basically another word for deceit; having a different intent than what is being professed or projected.  Saying one thing but doing another thing entirely; double-mindedness.  It is the…

  • Uncategorized

    The Paradoxical Commandments

    I am sure most of you have probably already read this poem before.  For some reason, I’m not sure I have ever seen it before.  My mom gave me a copy the other day, and it’s now on my fridge.  It is often attributed to Mother Teresa, called “The Anyway Poem,” because she had it written on the wall of her children’s home in Calcutta.  However, what she had written is based upon an inspirational poem by Dr. Kent M. Keith entitled “The Paradoxical Commandments.”  Anyway, it really blessed me, and I hope it blesses you, too.  This is a good one to read whenever you feel down and are…

  • Uncategorized

    Enough

    The world bombards us with the message of “whatever you’re currently doing isn’t enough.” I’m sure you’ve heard this message in one form or another. Got a problem? Well, you probably did something to deserve it. That certainly does not mean we should be absolved from all personal responsibility. Far from it. But does everything always come back down to something that you or I did wrong? Or aren’t doing right? I am sure that if I racked my brain long enough I could always drudge up something, for heaven’s sake! I am weary of picking up books promising help in a certain area, only to find a few chapters…

  • Bible,  Christianity,  Church,  God,  Parenting,  Religion,  Theological Discussions,  Uncategorized

    Dualing Banjos

    Well, I got such great feedback from everyone with the last post.  So, if you haven’t had enough of dualism yet, there’s a whole lot more where that came from, and I think it’s my new found calling in life to bring it to the masses ad nauseum.  🙂  I read this article by Nancy Scott called “Dueling with Dualism” not too long ago, and it really struck a chord with me.  I encourage you to read the whole thing, but I will share with you my favorite passage: To separate our experience into spiritual and material, leads us to place value on the pursuit of “spiritual” things over the…

  • Bible,  Christianity,  Church,  God,  Religion,  Theological Discussions,  Uncategorized

    Regarding Dualism

    I mentioned dualism in my last post.  I’ve been reading a lot about dualism lately.  I was first introduced to the concept by reading Michael’s blog over at The Christian Monist.  He’s got quite a story to tell, and it’s really good stuff.  He writes a lot about dualism, and how much it pervades our culture and colors many of our beliefs.  Dualism has many different meanings, depending on the context in which it is being discussed.  But for here and now, dualism, as it relates to the modern American evangelical Christian, is a way of viewing the world in very black and very white terms; having a very defined,…

  • Christianity,  Food,  God,  Kids,  Marriage,  Money,  Parenting,  Theological Discussions,  Uncategorized

    Things Life and God are Currently Teaching Me

    God is really, really big. Housework is way overrated. Sleeping in is way underrated. God is not as uptight as I once thought. We as human beings have an astounding knack for over complicating just about everything. I find this interesting especially when so many of Jesus’ teachings revolved around simplicity. Simplicity vs. Duplicity is a running theme in my life. More on that later. Monism vs. Dualism is also a theme. More on that later, as well. I am blessed. And I am thankful. If you want to have a great marriage, spend time with your spouse. If you want to have a great relationship with your kids, spend…

  • Books,  Kids,  Marriage,  Movies,  Theological Discussions,  Uncategorized,  Writing

    Welcome to “No Longer Waiting”!

    You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place. The Waiting Place… …for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or a No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting. Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to…