O A very powerful and beautiful Christian/Gospel song was released this year by Zach Williams and Dolly Parton. It is called “There Was Jesus.” We so often search for direction and answers to life’s ever emerging problems, issues, and decisions in inadequate, superfluous places when, always, Jesus was there. No doubt, there are dark, disturbing moments: A relationship that we treasured that became hurtful, abandoned or destructive despite our greatest efforts. The physical, mental, or emotional deterioration of a

Our oldest daughter Theresa has been collecting wise and witty sayings and quotes for some time. Occasionally she will gather a group of these wisdom thoughts and put them in a book form on Shutterfly. I cherish these small collections of sanity and keep several in our living room. Recently I was reading a wonderful thought-provoking quote from Caroline Myss: “Just let go. Let go of how you thought your life should be and embrace the life that is

All my life I’ve been an eternal optimist. Not that I’m not now, but amid all of the division and turmoil that is occurring in our country, I have to admit my trust at times is being challenged. Webster’s Dictionary describes trust as “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.” Another example of trust is having faith that things will be better in the future. Both apply to Jesus Christ, correct? So

Reflecting on life in 2020, I remember a book I read many years ago, Hinds’ Feet on High Places, by Hannah Hurnard. It is an allegory based on the “Song of Songs”. The Song of Songs expresses the desire to be united with God: body, soul and spirit. The main character is journeying through life issues of fear, pride, dryness, loneliness, brick walls, and loss, to name a few. For each milestone on the journey bringing her to new

A lot has happened in the past few months. The pandemic is worse. The heat is "out of control". The election is less than 3 months away and the rhetoric is heating up. The economy is not heating up quickly enough. We are only a few plagues short of feeling like the Pharaoh in Egypt. On the personal side, I had a pacemaker put in and have had a hard time adjusting to it. In addition to that,

Gratefulness On June 30th I tested positive for the Coronavirus. I was sick and after a few days went into Banner Desert Hospital with pneumonia. I was in the hospital for 11 days, was released, home for two days and then had to go back to the hospital with a tension pneumothorax (left lung collapsed pushing over my heart and right lung) for another 12 days. During the 23 days I was in the hospital, I felt fear and

Count Your Blessings Have you ever stopped to take inventory of your life and the many blessings you have received from God? I know that there are many times I am more interested in the complaining and whining of all the things that are going wrong in life. Many in our world today tend to see the cup half empty rather than half full. We do forget how truly blessed we really are. When I was chaplain for Stanford

Then, Now, and Tomorrow THEN is memories, memories of a childhood, a new son or daughter and even some events that are not so pleasant. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 (Study Bible – ESV, English Standard Version, Crossway Bibles, 2014.) And because God loves us, what occurred in our past is not something that needs to be

For the first 27 years of my life, I could not identify God and I felt alone. In elementary school, I was bullied. I learned at an early age that I would embrace the golden rule we all learned growing up;"treat others the way you want to be treated". In middle school, the bullying got worse and the abuse I suffered became physical. I always told the truth of what was done to me, the people I called

I love the sea. The sea is prayer for me. Just a few weeks ago, I was blessed to spend a week on Whidbey Island , Washington with my son Taylr. It was such a delight in so many ways. God’s majesty, glory and creativity were on full display - being poured out again and again in the endless ebb and flow of the ocean’s tide. The power of the sea draws me into the eternality of the

The present political, economic, moral and healthcare turmoil is not new. It reveals the fragile and conflicted reality of human nature. It points to the “present darkness” that resists the light of love and truth. In Ephesians (6: 10-19) St. Paul's admonition is for the Christians to prepare for battle with the weapons, both defensive and offensive to counter the cultural and spiritual opposition to the Gospel. He reminds us that when we let the world set the moral

Gratitude I had the opportunity to work with a person over 30 years ago, who, when you asked how he was doing, would always state: “Never Better!” I got to know this person very well and I knew he was not always feeling: “Never Better!” He had constant physical pain. At times it would get the best of him, but, he would never let on. His response was always: “Never Better!” I found this individual to be a

The Lord is Good One of my favorite books of the Bible is the Psalms. I can usually find one that fits any circumstance, need or mood of the moment. The Psalms are written like a songbook for God’s people to bring us into the presence of the One who created us and loves us. In it we find words of wisdom, lessons in history, songs of praise and thanksgiving, and heart cries of lament to the Lord.

Let Peace Begin with Me When I was a child one of my favorite books was entitled The Sky is Falling.  It is a story most of us read as young children where a little chicken named Henny-Penny brings a world to a panic when he runs throughout the world saying “The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling”.  This story has been part of American folk tales for centuries as a lesson to show how panic can

Four months ago, when I started to write these reflections, I never anticipated we would be where we are today. I did not think COVID-19 would be dominating our lives, riots would be happening around the country, and a dark cloud would appear over our nation. But, as of today, that is our reality.For now, this will be the last weekly reflection in this "series." I will continue to write some reflections periodically. I am grateful you have taken

How will we remember 2020? The truth is, it has not been a good year. As soon as I think about what has happened this year, I begin to shake my head. It has been a WOW! Year. And, not a good WOW! For me personally, I think about: (1) the death of my good friend Fr. Jack; (2) first Mother's Day without my mom; (3) coronavirus pandemic; (4) the economic collapse; (5) the incredibly high unemployment; (6)

I was about 40 years old before I shot a gun for the first time. . I was a candidate in the FBI Citizens Academy. Former Governor Rose Mofford (a fellow candidate) and I went to the FBI shooting range and experienced shooting an old fashioned tommy gun as well as other FBI weapons. I never considered owning a gun because they always scared me. The second time I held a gun was when I had to disarm

Please allow me to share something I read recently. It may be a little long, but please take a moment to read it. It was written by a preacher in the 1950s named A.W. Tozer. "It is literally true that some churches are dead. The Holy Spirit has gone out of them and all you have left are the remains. You have the potential of church, but you do not have the church, just as you have in

I want to talk about the concept of fairness. The dictionary describes fairness as "impartial and just treatment without favoritism or partiality." I remember as a kid being very aware of fairness. Any time my sister or brother got something more than I did, I was quick to remind my folks that it "wasn't fair." That never went very well with my parents. As I got older, I expected that teachers, employers, church leaders, and prosecutors would be

English is an odd language. It includes many words from some of the Romance languages, but it is not a Romance language. English is considered a Germanic language. The sounds of our language are not as harsh as German, but they are not as beautiful, poetic, or musical as Spanish, Italian, or French. In English, some words sound ugly. For instance, the word "regurgitate." There is no way to make it sound pleasant. To me, COVID sounds just

First off, I must tell you, I never expected to be writing these reflections nine weeks into this pandemic. Somehow, in my mind, I thought it would go for a month or so and we would have a handle on it. Here we are over two months later, and we still do not have a handle. In fact, in some ways, we do not even seem to have a clue as to how to defeat this virus. It

I am my mother's kid. Like my mom, I love shopping. I particularly like shopping at Macy's. The truth is I can wake up on a day off, throw on some clothes, and walk to Macy's within five minutes. Being able to walk through the store, stop at the in-store Starbucks, and hunt for bargains, are some of the things I miss the most during this shut down. The other evening, I went out for a walk. I

Winston Churchill once said, "If you are going through hell, keep going." Great advice! If you are going through tough times, do not stop to think about how hard it is. Keep your head up and keep moving forward. If you stop and feel sorry for yourself or turn yourself into a victim, you just prolong the ordeal. Churchill was a great leader and a wise man. His words from World War II provide wisdom for us today

Patience is defined as “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting upset or angry.” As Dr. Phil would say, “How’s that working for you?” There is no doubt the coronavirus is testing all of us. Our tolerance for not being able to do what we want, when we want, is coming to the limit. We miss our family, friends, church, stores, and entertainment. These past weeks have been hard on everyone. Add in

I heard a great quote recently. The speaker said, The message of Christ is not Christianity. The message of Christ, is Christ. In other words, Jesus did not come to make us more religious, he came so we might embrace Him. On this Easter Monday, I call you to embrace Jesus. I am not calling myself or you to be a better person or a better Christian in the eyes of the world, I call you to proclaim