Don’t Let Covid Cause a Fruit Shortage!

I have some mileage on the life odometer and I can honestly say I have never experienced a season like the one we are currently in. The late sixties were pretty wheels off but even that turbulent time didn’t match this. Instead of uniting as Americans over a pandemic we have divided. Isolation and fear have caused a collective national depression. Christians have too often been a part of the problem. In theory we have a message of hope in Christ. We should be a light of courage because we know and trust a loving God. Instead we too often get sidetracked by arguments over wearing masks and whether we should be meeting without restriction. The sound you hear is Satan chuckling that we are missing a chance to show grace, hope, love, and courage. How can we make that kind of difference? Paul has an annoying suggestion that if walk in relationship with Jesus you should display the traits
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Looking for Hope in all the Wrong Places?

A song by Joe South reflected my teenage disdain for those in power who seemed to not care a whit about the regular folk. I check the comments of young adults today and I realize that not much, if anything, has changed since this song was recorded in the turbulent late 60’s. “The Games People Play” was recorded by Joe South and here are the first two stanzas. Oh the games people play nowEvery night and every day nowNever meaning what they say nowNever saying what they mean And they wile away the hoursIn their ivory towersTill they’re covered up with flowersIn the back of a black limousine I have to admit that a bit of the anger and power of the protest was diminished with this hard-hitting chorus. La-da da da da da da daLa-da da da da da deTalking ’bout you and meAnd the games people play Hard to gin up a lot of “in your face” intensity
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How to Choose Hope and Light over Doom and Darkness

I remember reading Chicken Little when I was a child. The story tells that a young chick walking along was unexpectedly struck on the head by an acorn. With no further investigation Chicken Little came to the kind of well reasoned conclusion that floods our social media today. The sky is falling! Today Chicken Little would be an excellent politician or cable news anchor. Every time I violate my own personal mental health policy and turn on the news I am plunged into despair. The sky is falling! Look! There is an expert displaying a colorful chart to prove it! Hear me out. I know is important to communicate information for our actions and safety. But the tone and sheer volume of fear mongering is depressing. When I fall totally into the abyss and survey social media I see overwhelming fear, anger, gloom, and apocalyptic doom. Again, I understand the need to be informed. But I am beginning to think
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21 Connect: Day 19 – It is Still a Wonderful World

There is a country song by George Strait that laments about how long it took him to figure out things in his life. The lyrics humorously admit that he was wrong about a lot of things and slow to the dance on many others. One of my favorite lyrics in that song is when he hears “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong and it brings a tear to his eye. “After all these years,” Strait sings, he finally gets that song. Me too. That song by Louis Armstrong sees the beauty in this sometimes-ugly world. Flowers, the blue sky, rainbows, smiles, love, and babies crying. And like a modern psalmist, Armstrong sits back and with a smile in his distinctive voice proclaims to himself and others that it is a wonderful world. Martin Luther said that “God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars.” I believe that more than
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Don’t Pack Your Christmas Hope Away

This weekend we finished one of my least favorite tasks of the year. Taking down the Christmas decorations always makes me melancholy. I love Christmas and the message of hope it brings. That God entered human form and gave us hope in a Savior who understands our struggle. We packed up a treasured Nativity creche that has been a part of our family tradition for decades. That miracle in Bethlehem is where I place my joy as I head into a very unstable New Year. I find my joy in the Messiah, the Lord – who was born in the city of David. It is so easy to remember the reason for hope during Christmas. But now that we are past this wonderful season it is very easy to pack my hope away and unpack lots of worry. The twenty-four news cycle feeds on negativity. Hearing the message of gloom and doom over and over has it’s effect on even the most steadfast
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My Christmas Wish For You

Amy Grant recorded “My Grown-up Christmas List” for her “Home For Christmas” album. The lyrics imagine an adult going back to Santa with a different perspective on what matters most in life. Instead of material things the writer now asks for good things for others. I love the sentiment of the song. No more lives torn apartThat wars would never startAnd time would heal all heartsEveryone would have a friendAnd right would always winAnd love would never endThis is my grown-up Christmas list “My Grown Up Christmas List” I thought about my “grown-up” Christmas list this week. I would love for all of the things in the lyric above to come true. But I have lived enough to know they will not. Everyday lives are torn apart. Wars start too frequently. Time does not heal every heart. Some who are reading this are lonely. Right seems to lose way too often and love ends for many. So what could I wish for that
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Hump Day Hope : Come on. Say it! Say it!

The use of Hump Day to describe the midweek turning point has been around for awhile. It became a bigger part of the national lexicon thanks to a commercial and a camel.   I wish I was mature enough to say I was only mildly amused by the Geico commercial featuring the overbearing camel wandering through an office. I can’t. I stopped whatever I was doing every time it came on. The hope of this humble rambling each Wednesday is to provide a little hope to get you to the weekend. This is how hope is defined as a verb by dictionary.com. …to feel that something desired may happen. Example: I hope that the Cleveland Browns will play in a Super Bowl before I die. It is interesting that the next meaning of the verb hope is noted as archaic. …Archaic. to place trust; rely (usually followed by in) Call me archaic (my sons and workmates often do) but that
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