Category: Thursday Thoughts

I went into high school loving math and struggling with language arts. Why?  I am an analytical, verbal and social person.  Knowing what I know now, I am equally competent in both. So why was I turned on to one and turned off to the other? Let me suggest my relationships and perceptions of my…

The little things that shape our lives… Have you ever thought of how people have shaped your life in unintended ways by the little things they have said? I am amazed at how I can identify certain statements which have significantly impacted me, and yet the person who made the comment had no idea how…

I have always been intrigued with how people cultivate their spiritual life.  One of my first roles as a pastor forty years ago was to create a path for individuals to become disciples of Christ in a large church that was growing dramatically through evangelism.  I felt like a kid in a candy store!  We…

How comfortable are you living with the unknown? I think there is an element in all of us that simply wants to understand our world to the exclusion of mystery. It would seem few people have pursued this kind of knowledge more than I. Obviously, my degrees in engineering, business, theology, statistics, and psychology reveal…

I am often asked what I am currently doing. I am obviously not retired, and I don’t think I will ever retire in the traditional sense. I will slow down my pace as I continue to age but never stop doing Kingdom work. I think the scriptures are clear that retirement is physical death. Now, for some of…

“Plain folks” is the term Willard uses to describe the kind of people God chooses to use in his Kingdom. Surely it was this way with Jesus in choosing his disciples. And it has been true in my life. I come from such a position, raised in Swartz Creek, Michigan, by parents who had no college education or…

“No one under 50 should be allowed to write a book.” I have said this in several contexts, half joking.  But now I need to modify this some. In reading Luke 9-11, it occurs to me that Jesus sent out the 12 to do some missionary work at one point. He had obviously spent some…

God is infinite, we are finite. Dwell on the fact that God can create something simply by speaking it into existence. We, on the other hand, are limited and must work with the elements to bring things into existence. I must admit I tend to bring God down to my size. I become comfortable making…

I left home to go to college when I was barely 18 and remember calling home and telling my mother that my clothes were shrinking. My mother would tell me to not wash my clothes in hot water, but it didn’t seem to help. I didn’t come home until Thanksgiving break that first year of college, and…