Remembering the “Eternal” Legacy of September 11th
After viewing some of the 9/11 memorial coverage, I grabbed Bruce Springsteen’s album The Rising and listened to it onmy drive. One of the songs titled “Into the Fire”waswritten (at least I assume) in the perspective of a loved onewho lostone of the firefightersthat day: The sky was falling and streaked with blood I heard you calling me, and then you disappeared Into dust Up the stairs, into the fire Up the stairs, into the fire In the midst of all the horrific...
Your Calling Isn’t Just About You
I picked up a book recently called The War of Art and read it in an evening. I have been on Amazon ordering copies for my friends ever since. The author takes an honest and humorous look at the forces that keep us from doing what we are called to do. When I came across these lines (below), I was taken with the idea that when we do not pursue our calling — whether it is teaching, coaching, running a business, inventing the next iPhone — we aren’t just crippling...
If it’s free it’s for me: The Bigger Issues with Rob Bell’s Book, Yard Sales, & Unconditional Love
One of my friends delights in his disposition toward things that are free. He will drive across town for anything with that moniker attached…from free car washes to free chicken sandwiches. He is the proud purveyor of the phrase, “if it’s free, it’s for me!” Curiously, his inclination toward frugality does not extend to things he “lives in”, i.e. furniture, televisions, transportation, etc. He wants to pay for the less temporal items and services...
The Great Escape: Train tickets to heaven, scary headlines, and taking the easy way out
Explosions in Tripoli, bombs in the West Bank, radiation spewing from Japanese nuclear reactors, pirates seize an oil tanker,forty-five dead in Iraq government hostage siege, housing prices near a double dip… and these are just a few of the news stories being reported today. Depressing, isn’t it? News like this poses some big questions for me. Is it any wonder that so many people of faith have devoted themselves to whatseveral pastors label an “evacuation theology”?...
A Post- Valentine’s Day Lamentation…
One of my friends is a prominent journalist who writes about politics for several national magazines. He penned a funny op-ed the other year about the consumer pressures of Valentine’s Day and the challenges he experienced trying to find a last minute card and flowers for his wife. I think his readers laughed, but unfortunately his wife didn’t. So I approach criticism of Valentine’s Day with a little trepidation. I don’t want to be viewed as an unromantic...
