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Article 23
I confess to getting stuck on the terrible events going on in Paris with the terrorists killing journalists and then the hostages in the final confrontation with the police. And even now...
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Rejoice (Phil 4:4)
I love preaching! I am deeply grateful for the privilege of preaching to the same congregation week after week, year after year. We grow together in the Word and in our worship style and chemistry. I...
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Transfigured?
Transfiguration Sunday is a different kind of Sunday. It has about it the spectacular and almost mythic elements of appearances of men long since dead. There are flashes of light, overwhelming clouds,...
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Ash Wednesday
Today begins the journey to Easter with a stark sanctuary and a bowl full of ashes. Resurrection is only as good as sin is bad. I recoil from the ashes in an attempt to justify and explain my behavior....
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Lent #1: Wait, Welcome, Witness
I need to learn to wait better. As I get older I realize that I’m a bit compulsive about time (ask the staff!). From where I sit typing this, I can see five clocks not counting my wristwatch...
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Lent #2: Evangelism Beyond the Event
Traveling has been one of Martha’s and my deepest gifts. We have been privileged to travel to a number of countries since we took our first foreign trip as a couple to France, Italy and Austria....
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Whom do you see?
I like my routes. I have a particular way to drive to Trader Joe’s or Samarkand. When I ride with someone else, they sometimes take a differentroute! It might be more circuitous and sometimes...
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Listening?
In the book I recently wrote, “God’s Questions to Us”, I credited my father with implanting in me an early awareness and appreciation for those people who asked good questions. This is in...
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Article 14
Entrances are significant. How we enter a place, stage in life, position or a relationship is very telling. Brides spend a great deal of time and energy on how they enter their wedding space. Sports...
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On Definitions: Disciple (Matt 4:19)
Recently definitions collided and crashed. It was a conversation about music in the church. After some careful research into the numbers of songs/hymns we sang during a year, I saw the total number of...
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Abiding?
Both of our sons (and son-in-law) are literate in the world of computers. They are the people who can fix my computer when things get messed up. But I do not understand their language. For...
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Gotta Love the Kids
I've tried it and it just doesn't work. I've tried to appreciate parents while ignoring or disliking their child. It just doesn't work. Parents pay attention. Parents really notice how I treat their...
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Fan It
Moving, transitions and graduations bring a whole set of challenges. Something is over. Something new is beginning. Change is in the works. Uncertainty is in the air. Accomplishments are...
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Where have you come from, where are you, and where are you going?
The altar-piece for this Sunday reflects the mission-theme at the 2015 Noah's Half-Day Camp at Montecito Covenant Church: Egypt. The trunk (root ball) speaks of our roots in both Egypt and the Old...
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Not Far
“Old” has changed for me. Old used to be my father. But now I’m over his age when I thought he was old! An old building when I was growing up in Minnesota was something built in the early...
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Rested Enough?
A friend of mine just returned from a three-week trip in England, Germany, France and Italy. As he told me about his adventure, he said, “The French and Italian cultures do time differently...
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Ambassador in Chains
During college, I was a union laborer with a large construction company in Minneapolis. The job fully paid for all four years of college and introduced me to what it takes to build buildings....
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Beyond the Borders
Between my freshman and sophomore year of college, I spent a year living in Tokyo Japan as a short-term missionary with the Evangelical Covenant Church. I lived in a seminary dormitory with...
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Compete?
All week I’ve been asking different people: How do you compete?The responses have been very interesting. Some told me that they are basically non-competitive; avoiding sports and win/lose games. But...
View ArticleNew Thoughts for a New Year
I have not written a post since 2015. The reflective words stopped finding a place here. My life has changed in some pretty big ways. I am no longer a sitting senior pastor with an open call for...
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