At a Bible Study I attend, one of the men handed out a sheet of paper containing two lists. One list showed the things that are outside of our control. The other detailed the things that we can control. In reality, the list of things outside our control would be a long list, and since […]

Yesterday was a hard day. It seemed like lots of stuff got piled on me and I didn’t respond well. I will spare you the details but suffice it to say that circumstances reminded me of my many failures and my oh-so-evident faults. This morning, in a Lyft on my way to the airport, I […]

A few days ago, I saw a meme in LinkedIn with some comments by the actor Jakie Chan about gratitude. That quote is shown at right in this post. It is so easy to be frustrated about what we don’t have. It is also so easy to be jealous of someone who has something that […]

As I write this, I am sitting on my patio on a lovely May morning in a quiet neighborhood. I hear the distant rumble of jet engines from the local airport, but instead of carrying weapons that sow destruction, these jets are carrying people to destinations of their own choosing. While I am far from […]

I live in the desert in the Southwest United States and I really enjoy the variety of cacti that are on display in the wild areas around me and in my neighborhood. I especially like the seguaros, those tall, majestic cactus with arms that are the symbol of the American desert. They frequently appear in […]

In the churches of my youth, I was certainly taught the right way to behave. Or, at least, I was taught the right way to behave which was consistent with the leaders’ understanding of the Bible. Those churches were good at producing conformity among the congregants. This conformity is not a bad thing in itself, […]