Living in light of eternity

Old men are not easy to shop for.  They have everything and they don't care about hardly anything.  If they have hobbies, they already have all the trinkets related to it.  Books- read 'em all, and not interested in the new ones.  Movies- seen anything worth seeing.  Music- you get the idea. But there is one perfect gift for an old man- a grandchild.  Now you are talking!  Brings back all those memories of being young, adoring your pretty young wife, and seeing those cute children enter the scene.  It kindles hope.  A new child into the world, new potential, optimism, wonderment.   Little girls are special- so sweet and tender.  They conjure up images of ballet dresses, musicals, first dates, and the prom.  There will be long chats as you run errands together.  Somehow you will try to protect her, comfort her, and give her courage.  Hopefully some day she will grow up to respect her "Pap", and remember those chats. ...

Several years ago I had the opportunity to sit for 20 minutes with a well-known Christian counselor. We were on the way back from a Christian conference up in the mountains- now coming down the hill in a in an air-conditioned bus. The counselor was seated in the very back seat, actually the entire back row where he had his briefcase open and a stack of files spread all over the place. He had been speaking to us at the conference and I really enjoyed and appreciated what he had to say. The opportunity was given for anyone who wanted a short visit with him to set up an appointment. The only time left for me was on the way down the hill. He started by asking me if there is anything in particular I wanted to talk about. At this point let me press pause and say I do have some questions about doctor/ patient confidentiality. In this case I'm the patient, it's my life, and I suppose I can talk about it. I don't want to accidentally reflect negatively on him, so I won't use h...

I  I remember the first time I saw "Zorro". Not the old TV version, but the movie. The one with Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. I remember talking with my friends about the movie. It was a good action flick, and it had a good plot, but that's not what everyone talked about. Guys or girls -- all they could talk about was this newcomer, Catherine Zeta-Jones "did you see her skin" "she had perfect hair" and on and on. People were fascinated by how perfect she was. One person said, "I kept looking in every scene to see if there was one flaw in her skin, one hair out of place, but I never found any." I know this sounds like girl talk, but it wasn't- it was what everybody was saying- guys and girls. Perfection is something that has incredible fascination to us all. I remember in high school there was a guy in our class, Harry Schaeffer. He got a perfect 1600 on his SAT scores. Now I remember a lot of thi...

I   was recently at a wedding. The wedding of Jared and Tori. Over the many years that my wife and I had done ministry, the class that graduated with Tori and Jared was especially colorful and cool. Of all the personalities involved, Carl stuck out. He was a bit wild and woolly, always had a great story to tell, and had tons of heart. In high school Carl is the kind of kid that howled at the moon, so to speak. Once Christ got hold of him, he was a kid with an unusual passion for communicating the love of Christ to others. And he was active in the Bible studies that I would lead for the young men. I guess in one of these studies I must have told the story of when I almost drowned in the Big Thompson River back in 1975. Beth Sutton and several the gals from the summer project in Estes Park, Colorado decided to go tubing in the Big Thompson. As one of the staff leaders I felt somewhat responsible for the students and when I heard that the girls were going alone I thought it prud...

“There was no respect for youth when I was young, and now that I am old, there is no respect for age - I missed it coming and going.” John B. Priestly. I have to admit; there are times when I've felt like that. But that's not why I am writing this. I doubt that anything I say will change the way some young people look at their elders, but I want to speak out on the topic, just the same. If you do a cursory search on Google for the phrase "respect your elders"- watch out. You'll discover discussion boards where young "punks" rant and rave over things they know nothing about. I guess I shouldn't use the term "punks". I don't want to sound disrespectful of those that are disrespectful. Sodahead.com is one of the more popular sites for teen discussions. Under the topic, "Should teenagers respect their elders?" many give candid and explicit answers. They also rate what they consider the best answer to the question. The top rated an...

Trying to define "postmodernism" is a bit like asking a fish the temperature of the water in his bowl. You must get outside postmodern thought to be able to define and quantify it. We're so much a part of the culture around us that we have cultural blind spots. Postmodern means literally "after the modern.", and that seems to be the best way to understand it. Postmodernism is defined against it's predecessor, Modernism. Since I'm one of the older ones, someone who was raised in the 50's, squarely in the Modern Age, I have my own observations of Postmodern Thought. I've seen it reflected in those around me- my wife and I served as youth workers from the day we left college in 1974 until 2007. We have been closely connected to the column of progress culturally. Here's what we have observed... Postmoderns seem to be reacting to and attempting to correct problems they see in the modern world. There are four areas where they have made improv...

Plan "A" Goal: Meet up with Nona's side of the family mid-way Destination: Gulf Shores, Alabama Result: Deepwater Horizon blow-out. Alabama beaches closed during our vacation week. Plan "B" Goal: Gather the Texas Zeiler's for a family vacation. Destination: South Padre Island, Texas Result: Hurricane Alex makes landfall in South Padre. 3-5 foot storm surge predicted. I say to Mark, "I'm beginning to think our family vacation is not meant to be." Plan "C" Goal: Evacuate to higher ground with the family and find some place nice to "hang out". Destination: The Menger Hotel on the Riverwalk in San Antonio Result: Wonderfully relaxing days together seeing the sights in San Antonio, swimming in the pool, eating on the Riverwalk, shopping and "hanging out" together. Mission Accomplished! Psalms 133: 1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running ...