Today I was listening to a talk (or sermon depending on your faith tradition) and was granted a new insight into a scripture story I’ve read and contemplated many times before. The speaker brought up the miracle of the loaves and fishes, where Jesus miraculously fed the multitudes. Often this miracle is the focal point of the message. As the speaker continued with the story, I was struck by what followed.
In John chapter 6, we read about Christ feeding the masses with five loaves and two fishes. In addition to the marvelous teachings they heard, all who were there … Read the rest
Many years ago, two intrepid scout masters took the young men from my church youth group on a week-long backpacking trip into an offshoot of the Rocky Mountains. One of the guys in our group was physically smaller than the rest of us and had a chip on his shoulder to compensate. As a result, and as matter of record, I didn’t have a lot of love for him. In fact, he had spent most of the last two years pestering and tormenting me — his apparent goal being to start a fight with me (beat me up) to prove … Read the rest
Life can be funny sometimes. Things we often tend to view in absolutes can become quite fuzzy or even inverted when the context is right. One example I’ve experienced very recently is an inversion of the concept that it’s bad to be unwanted.
Most of us spend a good portion of our lives trying to be something or someone who is wanted. We develop skills that are wanted by employers. We seek to be wanted by friends and love interests. We often find ourselves trying to acquire stuff and abilities that place us in a position to be envied. I … Read the rest
They say don't sweat the small things,
But give big ones all they're due.
A principle that comfort brings,
A guide star pointing true.
Yet massive things when broken down,
Are small in truth and deed.
So monstrous stuff of great renown,
Must garner little heed.
Dickenson's poem says she's nobody,
She couldn't be further from right.
Everyone's someone to somebody,
A jewel and a treasured delight.
Some discount their talents and value,
Our Saviour sees through all of that,
To cherish potential and virtue,
And love us wherever we're at.
Time is impatient and simply won't wait,
While we argue with chance and bargain with fate.
It presses us onward in spite of our fears,
Turning seconds to minutes and minutes to years.
Badly swollen and weak
It groans and it grinds
It creaks and it squeaks
Then it seizes and binds.
So more leverage apply
Yes! It yields just a bit
And shears off the next turn
I'm so mad I could spit.
Peetie the one-legged pirate,
came stumping along down the path,
wearing his stripe-ed pajamas,
and desperately needing a bath.
Grumbling, mumbling, and grousing along,
A cloud hanging over his head,
Scowling and wearing a horrible frown,
Ever since he climbed out of his bed.
His grizzled long beard looked like lightning,
His eyebrows were tied up in knots.
Powder smoke blackened his visage,
His mustache held clumps of dried snot.
As he thundered along down the alley,
He stepped in through several a door,
Collecting a bit at each halting,
What he needed and not a thing more.
At the
Each day that dawns begins anew,
Brings light to what was dark.
Dries morning dew and opens eyes,
To see a morning lark.
Yet daylight too must yield its way,
Retreat as evening comes.
Give place to swift encroaching dark,
Though tasks lie still undone.
We cannot stop this constant churn,
Though fear or doubt cry out.
The rolling tides of forcing change,
Are deaf to human shouts.
On what seem to be fairly regular occasions I find myself in a position where I wonder if Hamlet was wrong about his very famous question that surfaced while he reviewed his awful situation and contemplated terrible options for dealing with it. I occasionally have reason to wonder whether the real question is not “to be, or not to be,” but rather “to know, or not to know.” The existence and personal acknowledgement of this question is somewhat disturbing to me given that I have spent the vast majority of my life actively seeking for both knowledge and wisdom. At … Read the rest
