In athletic competition one of the most grueling disciplines is the iron man triathlon. These amazing and perhaps crazy people run a marathon, ride a bicycle over 110 miles, and swim about 2 and one-half miles all in one ridiculous day. I have a bewildered respect for these athletes. But I have even more respect for the hundreds of thousands of men and women who are iron men and women in the race to defeat cancer. Regular readers of these humble ramblings know about Joni’s journey through the trial of breast cancer. For Joni the first and most grueling stage (we pray) of the cancer triathlon has been the chemo marathon. We have been plodding through this course for over five months. Now we are down to only 3 weeks left. It has been a very difficult journey. But we are grateful. Grateful that the end of this part of the race is nearing an end. Grateful that we will
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I have been receiving an overwhelming response to my article about “confessing my agenda” to Rosie O’Donnell after her less than positive comments about Christianity. Many of you have written asking for permission to use/print/reproduce those comments. I am blessed that so many of you found that article helpful. Feel free to use it with my blessings. If you reproduce it in a publication simply note the source. If you decide to use it at a website please link it to Crosswalk.com or to my site at Confessions of a Bad Christian. If you use it from the pulpit without accredidation just know that Jesus is watching. For newcomers…I am kidding! If this post communicates your heart why not forward the “agenda” to your circle of influence? We might as well start a groundswell of Christians committed to this “radical” and “troublesome” brand of faith. Blessings and joy in the journey, Dave  
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Note to my tens of loyal readers…the iPod Devotional Series will resume tomorrow. You never know which weblogs will resonate with readers. I posted my response to the Rosie O’Donnell flap last week and almost immediately began receiving responses…both posted on the website and via emails. Most were overwhelmingly kind and encouraging. A few not so much. Regular readers of these ramblings know that we have some house rules here at Bad Christian Central. No personal attacks. No rude or inflammatory posts. No CYBER SHOUTING. The discourse at this site will remain civil and graceful. Why? Because I am paying for the server. Buy your own site and you can do what you want. Visit mine and those are the groundrules. Having said that, I am learning that negative responses are often food for thought and opportunities for clarification. That is why I am taking a rare detour to address a couple of less than complimentary responses. While I doubt the
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When I was younger you knew exactly when a celebrities career had peaked and had begun to spiral slowly downward. That career reversal could be duly noted when a one time big star was booked on the Love Boat. So it is with some reluctance that I address the brouhaha surrounding the comments by talk show host Rosie O’Donnell. I am reluctant to discuss this because I think that Rosie is in the Love Boat phase of her career. To be fair, she has forged a career that garners her national attention. My career has made me a household name only in my household. Nonetheless, her comments conveyed a common misconception (make that lie) about the “agenda” of Christians in this country. Here is what the always genteel Rosie had to say during a recent episode of  The View. “Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have separation of church and state.” Perhaps part
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Welcome to the experiment known as the iPod devotional series. Here is how it works. On the old iPod is a “shuffle songs” feature. You hit the button and the iPod randomly picks a song.  I am writing a blog about whatever song the device selects on that day from the 1,000 plus songs on my iPod. My music list will further confirm my status as a Christian who makes others feel superior. My music goes from Al Green to the Youngbloods. Beatles to U2. Old hymns to modern praise music. Toby Keith to Frank Sinatra. Oldies to the soundtrack from Monty Python’s Spamalot. This could be interesting. So far in the series we have had songs from the Undisputed Truth, Chris Rice, Toby Keith, Andrew Peterson, Alison Krause and Union Station, The Youngbloods, and Willie Nelson. I would call that blend eclectic. You probably call it weird. Today’s edition of “As the iPod Turns” lands us on a song by Percy Sledge. I loved Motown music as a
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Welcome to the experiment known as the iPod devotional series. Here is how it works. On the old iPod is a “shuffle songs” feature. You hit the button and the iPod randomly picks a song.  I am writing a blog about whatever song the device selects on that day from the 1,000 plus songs on my iPod. My music list will further confirm my status as a Christian who makes others feel superior. My music goes from Al Green to the Youngbloods. Beatles to U2. Old hymns to modern praise music. Toby Keith to Frank Sinatra. Oldies to the soundtrack from Monty Python’s Spamalot. This could be interesting. Okay…this is weird. I mentioned Toby Keith in the intro paragraph and one of his song’s popped up yesterday. I noted The Youngbloods in the alphabetical range of my songlist and their one big hit is the shuffle target for today. I guess I should prepare for Monty Python tomorrow. The song “Get Together” was written in 1963 by a songwriter who went
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Welcome to the experiment known as the iPod devotional series. Here is how it works. On the old iPod is a “shuffle songs” feature. You hit the button and the iPod randomly picks a song.  I am writing a blog about whatever song the device selects on that day from the 1,000 plus songs on my iPod. My music list will further confirm my status as a Christian who makes others feel superior. My music goes from Al Green to the Youngbloods. Beatles to U2. Old hymns to modern praise music. Toby Keith to Frank Sinatra. Oldies to the soundtrack from Monty Python’s Spamalot. This could be interesting. I mentioned in the introductory paragraph that you might find some Toby Keith on my iPod. The shuffle confirmed that today as a tune from the Oklahoma country singer was the first one called up. Earlier I had expressed some concerns about this series. One of those fears was that the randomly selected song would: Offend more conservative readers
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