On My Mind

Limping ashore after decades at sea, he was greeted by taunt … “You don’t have much to show for all those years do you?” “No, not much,” said the old salt who had spent years sailing with Sir Francis Drake.  “I’ve been cold, hungry, sick, scared, and shipwrecked. But I am certain of one thing; […]

It all started with a simple hello. You didn’t know it at the time, but that hello was the opening curtain of your love story—a story that would play out too fast, the goodbye of the closing curtain coming too soon. The whole story seemed compressed into just five words: Hello. I love you. Goodbye. […]

On April 14, 2004, Marine Corporal Jason Dunham’s squadron was manning a checkpoint near the Syrian border in western Iraq when an Iraqi soldier lobbed a grenade into the unit. Dunham dived on the missile and died shielding his comrades from the explosion with his own body. Battalion commander Lt. Col. Matthew Lopez said, “Cpl. […]

resolution [rěz ǝ-looʹ shǝn] 1. a decision or determination; a resolve; 2. firmness of purpose; the mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute. irresolution [ǐ- rěz ǝ-looʹ shǝn] 1. lack of resolution; lack of decision or purpose; vacillation. Which of those words describes you? Did you make any resolutions at the beginning of […]

Have you ever wondered why Jesus asked so many questions? It wasn’t because he didn’t know the answers. He could have spit those out in a tempo that would make your head spin. But a question does something that a lecture doesn’t—it engages the listener and calls for a response. We tend to approach Scripture […]

Wendy keeps bottled water and peanut butter crackers in her car—not for herself, but for those who stroll the medians at major intersections: Hungry — Laid Off — Will Work for Food. Wendy isn’t comfortable dishing out cash to strangers, fearful of feeding an addiction. But neither is she comfortable turning a cold shoulder to […]

Mark and Katy were living a happy life in our community and church when they were abruptly uprooted and transferred to a remote, thinly-populated outpost in Alberta, Canada. I stopped by to spend a night with them when a trip took me that way. We talked and laughed late into the night. But out of […]

I had a delightful meal at one of my favorite restaurants last night. Back home, emptying my pockets I discovered my credit card was missing. It hadn’t been stolen; I had just left my brain and my plastic behind at the restaurant. As I drove back to retrieve the orphaned card, I began thinking about […]

“No man ever steps in the same river twice,” wrote Heraclitus, “for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” The river has surged on. The man has changed for better or worse. These words are on a sticky note in my Bible … This morning I woke up to something that […]

Rabbi Chaim Feld has launched a campaign to zap loshon hora (a Hebrew term for “evil tongue”). “Loshon hora,” says Rabbi Feld, “is any talk that causes mental anguish, tarnished reputation, or the lowering of someone’s esteem in others’ eyes.” He wants to put a stop to it. Good luck with that, Rabbi—you’re declaring war […]