Category Archives: Weekly Reflections

What My Parents Wanted for Their Children (It Wasn’t the American Dream)

The only people that really know our young lives are our parents. Whatever vague recollections I have from my early earthly days cannot compete with the vibrant remembrances my parents vividly recall. They know more about my early life even if I am the original owner (actually God is the owner of all life). My […]

Who Does Your Heart Belong Too?

This existential heading may seem like a strange question to ask of anyone who has been birthed and bathed in the modern world of emancipation, liberation and an insatiable individualism; but it’s THE question every human has hopefully examined even in an otherwise unexamined life. It’s the same question God asks of us every day; […]

Forty Years in the Wilderness: My Return to Church

Like every well-versed Sunday schooler, I learned about Moses and the fickle faith of God’s chosen people. Even after miracle after miracle, they still did not trust in God. Consequently, they wandered for forty years in the wilderness. A story I thought I faithfully comprehended, until I foolishly followed in their footsteps. As a child […]

When I Realized My Career Added Nothing to the World

The most problematic person to be honest with is primarily ourselves. Particularly when we align our sense of self-worth to what we do for our daily bread. What we do for a “living” is often the first question we are asked by strangers and acquaintances. It’s how this culture defines our value to the world. […]

Understanding Scripture as Sacred Sagacity not a Regimen of Rules

How we understand the world is how we understand ourselves, others and our faith; and yes, we all have a faith, even the most ardent atheist or apathetic agnostic. Every human needs purpose and perseverance to prevent a life of pointlessness. When we lack meaning in our lives we become lost in a despair of […]

For My Friends Whose Journey Ended Far too Soon

As summer signals its send-off and autumn announces its arrival, the earthly equipment we employ to measure time will mark the conclusion of my sixtieth year in this here and now. A birthday milestone I could never even imagine thirty years ago. A birthday marker that too many of my friends never realized; their lives […]

Learning to Pursue Love not the World’s Approval

I live in a culture that deifies what our senses can see while disparaging what our senses cannot see. I live in a culture that devours generosity to satiate our vociferous appetite for self while discounting a sense of shared community. I live in a culture that diminishes kindness and denigrates love. God is love. […]

The Digital Amplification of Mental Illness

We live in a world that even our most foresighted futuristic forefathers could never imagine. Cold water flows into our homes with the turn of a faucet. Hot showers are available on demand. We press buttons on a machine to cool us in the summer and warm us in winter. Our food is flown in […]

When the Myth Dies: A July 4th Reflection

Fifty years ago, as our nation celebrated its bicentennial, a shy skinny suburban fourth grader summoned the courage to step out from among his classmates. Performing his impersonation of James Cagney as he spun, shook and slid across a soulless gymnasium floor. His classmates in support of his stage entrance as they sung about a […]

The Dance of Deception that Deceives Our Hearts

We all want to believe that by and large we’re a good person. Maybe; but probably not as good as we believe. It’s not that humans are bad per se, but it’s more nuanced. Humans, like all of creation, are pronounced good by God. Every person conceived in love and custom-made to love. Love that’s […]