Category Archives: experience

2nd annual Christmas Reading

Years ago a colleague did this reading to this music in a faculty meeting. I immediately read it to my classes and then, in Charlottesville, it became a Christmas Chapel tradition and then at the annual Live Nativity. Those days are past so here it is for those who remember or for those who have not heard it before.

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Filed under experience, spiritual questions/musings/wonderings

pastors and leaders: important article for you and your team to read and discuss

This is a pretty long article that describes causes of and lessons from the failure of Mark Driscoll and the demise of Mars Hill.

It will take you a few minutes to read but there are so many important lessons to be learned that I urge you to read it and discuss with your team/elders/staff/mentor/fellow-disciple/or whomever. (If you’re out there all by yourself and have none of these, get a’hold of me.)

Click Here to read The Painful Lessons…

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Veterans Day

I am proud to have invested 4 years of my life in the Air Force in the years right after the Viet Nam war. I was trained in Okinawa as a F-4 crew chief by guys who had just left Southeast Asia. They were a trip. The 70s in that context was a trip.

Those years were full of turmoil, like now, that was often the result of uncertainty by politicians. The Carter administration was apologetic in a situation where the Ford administration had previously used us in a show of force against Kim Il Sung’s antics at the Korean DMZ, under Ford N. Korea backed off. Under Carter, not so much.

I was fortunate that in my four years there were not more than two dozen deaths that I recall. Some from training accidents, some killed near our base by N. Korean spies, several in two incidents on the DMZ.

The uncertainty was the biggest cause of anxiety. When we were not sure how the politicians would react to the testings of our enemies.

I guess some things remain the same.

Pray for those who suffer today and will do so for the rest of their lives as a result of their service. Pray for the Veterans Administration and the clean up that is ongoing there. I know from my own experience with my dad, a WW2 veteran who spent the last months of his life in a V.A. Hospital, how crucial the V.A. is to veterans. I will always be thankful for those doctors and nurses.

If you know a veteran, thank him or her for serving, whatever their capacity.

The measure of a country is not the political faces we hold our noses and vote for, the real measure is the men and women who choose to join to protect this country.

God bless America. God help and bless her veterans.

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tech distracts us

Technology can really help us and be a great tool for our spiritual development. It can also be a huge stumbling block to it.

Tim Keller is an astute cultural analyst and knows how to apply ancient practices of Bible reading and prayer today.

Last week I posted a conversation with Tim Keller on prayer. This week there is a longer interview in which 10 questions are answered about prayer, READ HERE.

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Filed under being a disciple, culture, definitions, disciple making, experience, seeking understanding, shifts, spiritual questions/musings/wonderings

Some thoughts on U2’s latest

Not mine, I have none yet. Read Jeremy Bohall’s opening reflections HERE.

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Filed under culture, experience, shifts

Uh oh, e-readers beware

Some interesting research comparing books to e-readers creates big questions for education. Read the Post article here.

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Filed under culture, experience, seeking understanding, shifts