There are times when we go through deserts of life - the times when we feel that we have been cast adrift with no divine wind in our sails. There are other times when we suffer acute pain: mental, physical, or emotional anguish of a particular kind or from a particular source. Both of these... Continue Reading →
Why Chesterton and Revolution?
Someone asked me a question yesterday via the GKChestertonQuote.com site: If "revolution" is so often used as a leftist and communist idea, why would a Christian author like G.K. Chesterton issue a call to revolution like "Pray for Revolution?" To paraphrase Chesterton in Manalive, a revolution is always a return. A revolution is a radical change,... Continue Reading →
Learning to Hope Like a Bartledan
In Mostly Harmless, the final book in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, an alien race known as the Bartledans. They are described as being almost exactly like humans, except that they do not hope, wish, or dream. Wishing a Bartledan a good evening is cause for confusion. They play games and sports,... Continue Reading →
Pigs, America, and Property in Revolution
This past weekend, we marked the anniversary of American independence, with much fanfare and perhaps some somber remembrance. One of the items that tends to circulate is a list of the sacrifices faced by the signatories of the Declaration. While some of the extreme losses are exaggerated, as Snopes.com points out, some of the more... Continue Reading →
Just Gathering Sticks
The fight of being a Christian is not always a violent opposition to evil. Most of the time, the fight is just doing the mundane thing you are supposed to be doing in the face of an otherwise hopeless situation. For example, consider the widow of Zarephath, in 1 Kings 7. Elijah was sent to... Continue Reading →
The Urge To Purge
As a Christian you profess a faith in a God who provides for you, but from whom you are distracted by things of this world... If you know you could be happy with half the things you own... If you want less stuff in your life, and feel the need to simplify... If you recognize... Continue Reading →
Interrupting the Impossible
While reading a book on business strategies, I came across an expression credited as "an ancient Chinese proverb." The person who says something is impossible should not interrupt the person who is doing it. In the context I found it, the expression was an answer to naysayers who criticize a project or goal while the yet-impossible task... Continue Reading →
The Career Father
My adventures as a freelancer have brought me back to the place 'between clients.' The point where we trust God's providence for our daily bread fully - as we ought to always - because efforts at the moment feel particularly in vain. Apparently this was something I was to consider this Lenten season. I can't say... Continue Reading →
Sacrifice of Lent – More than Giving Up Good Stuff
The season of Lent is almost upon us - 40 days prior to Easter (excluding Sundays) that are a time of preparation for the celebration of Jesus' passion and resurrection. The early Christian church marked the 40 days of preparation for Easter as far back as 325, and it was established formally in the... Continue Reading →
The Purpose of War is Peace
"The true object of war is peace." This expression is often attributed to Sun Tzu, author of the ancient "Art of War." In fact, it seems to have originated in the forward to the 1983 edition of that book, written by James Clavell - someone who is just as qualified to remark on the subject... Continue Reading →