Growing up in Iowa, I’ve seen a lot of cottonwood trees. Having lived in Arizona, I’ve seen a lot of cactus. Here at the lake in Texas, I’ve seen them both together. Down the road in a neighbor’s backyard is a large cottonwood tree. About seven feet off the ground in the notch where the […]
During a Phoenix Seminary class in 1994, Dr. Norm Wakefield gave us a bookmark. I’ve had it in my Bible every day since. One side reads: “The terms and conditions of a relationship determine the nature of the relationship.” This is true. For example, think about the employers you’ve had in your life. Managers like […]
As a kid I was blessed to live just down the road from all my Grandparents. My Dad’s parents lived a half mile away. My Mom’s folks were a whole 2 miles away. The close proximity allowed me to spend lots of time with all of them. When I was a kid I would play […]
The wall mounted mirror is behind the door so you don’t see it when you walk in. Only when you walk out. Even then, I never paid any attention to it. On this particular day life was pouring in more than usual. Like the way I used to feel shoveling through a giant drift after […]
The following is a confession. I’ve apologized and asked forgiveness of the offended Party. Now it’s time for that “confess your sin to one another” part of the process. In a sentence…I have allowed my burden to become an idol. For my readers who don’t know me, four years ago my spouse chose to walk […]
I can’t remember what it was about. I can’t remember who was in it. All I remember is that it was a happy place. Relaxing. Peaceful. Serene. Everything good dreams are made of. TapTapTapTapTap. Each poke of her little index finger on my shoulder hit the elevator button on my slumber, bringing me up from […]
It was January of 1994. The first night of my first ever seminary class. I sat down at a round table and shook hands with a guy I knew went to the same church I did, but had yet to meet. “Hi, I’m Greg.” “I’m Todd. Good to meet you.” Dr. Oberholtzer opened the class […]
Poke around the shady groves of farms in the Midwest and you’ll find them. Tucked behind the barn or under a tree, monuments to decades of hard work and sweat. Added to and rarely subtracted from. Rock piles. Depending on the lay of the farmer’s land, before planting crops it’s sometimes necessary to harvest rock. The freezing of winter and […]
Ever see something that makes you wonder, “What’s the point?” It’s really windy here in Lubbock. Which is to say the Pope is Catholic, water is wet, the Grand Canyon is deep, and the Minnesota Vikings still haven’t won a Super Bowl. If Rodgers and Hammerstein weren’t able to obtain the financing for “Oklahoma!” they could have staged the musical […]
If someone gave you a ticket to spend a day anywhere in the United States, where would you go? I’d be on a plane to Chicago before you could say “deep dish pizza”. Several years ago I had opportunity to attend a preaching/teaching conference at Willow Creek Church with my friend and pastor Duane Cross. […]
Years ago my good friend Fred told me about a delightful conversation he had with his then 3-year old grandson, Nathan. Nathan was just about to have another birthday. “Grandpa, I don’t want to be 4. I want to stay 3.” “Why is that?” “Because after you turn 4, then you turn 5.” “What’s wrong with […]
Fox News reported last October that Akira Haraguchi, a Japanese mental health counselor, broke his own world record by reciting pi to 100,000 decimal places from memory. The 60-year old man needed 16 hours to do it. In mathematical terms, pi is “a physical constant defined as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its […]
The Southwest Airlines flight attendant leaned against the seat and, in a low “we don’t want the passengers to hear” voice, said to her co-worker, “That was really bad. I’m nauseous.” We were on the ground in Albuquerque last Monday night, waiting for passengers to board for the next leg to Phoenix. A few minutes earlier we were in […]
I’m not certain they even exist anymore but during my childhood days they were the centerpiece of every elementary school playground. The merry-go-round. The big, spinning fun maker whose only safety feature was some anti-skid bumps on the metal platform. It was quite simple in construction. A base platform mounted on a center spindle containing […]
Years ago in the church I attended back in Iowa I had my first experience with nursery duty. While I am now a pro and can handle anything and everything related to kids, back then I was only comfortable as long as they were happy. It was that crying thing that I was afraid of. After raising […]
When I was in high school my sister Joleen had a horse. I’d ridden him at a gallop many times and thought I’d gone as fast as that horse could go. Until one day my cousin Becky came over on her horse. Then her horse and my sister’s horse decided between themselves they’d show each […]
It’s dry in the desert. That’s why they call it a desert. On a good year, the Phoenix valley receives only 7″ of rain. This hasn’t been a good year. Until God turned on the faucet last Saturday, it had been 143 days in a row with no rain. The last time water fell […]
Years ago my friend Glen, a cowboy who’d rather be horseback riding and team roping than doing anything else, summarized the inherent problem of not taking life one day at a time as only he could do. “When ya’ got one foot in yesterday and the other foot in tomorrow, yer’ pissin’ all over today.” […]
[audio:http://www.asliceoflifetogo.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/01-Heaven2005.mp3] We are loaded down with the weight of living in a fallen world. Even our best days are sprinkled with sadness, disappointments and tears. And on our worst days we feel like it will never end. The good news is that Jesus died that we might have life after this fallen world. The day […]
[audio:http://www.asliceoflifetogo.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/01-DiscerningGodsWill.mp3] We’ve all been there. The not so proverbial “fork in the road”. A choice to make. Which path to take? Is one right and the other wrong? If so, how do we know which is which? How do we discern God’s will for our lives? Much as we would like it to be, God’s […]
Do you ever find yourself so busy that you can’t keep track of everything on your schedule? Have you ever said to yourself or to someone around you, “I just don’t have time to think about that right now!”? Sometimes we get so involved and over-committed that we forget things. Forgetting to pick up your […]
Have you ever been to a carnival and seen a “guess how many are in the jar and win a prize” contest? The jar could have anything in it. Maybe pennies, or marbles, or if you’re at a county fair in the Midwest it might be a jar of shelled corn or soybeans. Everyone writes […]
It was July of 1989. En route to Milwaukee for a business meeting I decided to take a few extra days to visit old acquaintances along the way. While in Chicago I had opportunity to spend time with some dear college friends. On Friday evening we met for dinner at Timone’s, an authentic old neighborhood […]
They sat side by side in the passenger area of Gate 25, Terminal 3 at Sky Harbor. If it’s true that people married to one another for a long time eventually begin to look alike, then this seventy something couple have flown together for many years. Surrounded by appropriately noisy young families juggling kid packs, […]
It was the kind of Saturday Iowa kids look forward to from January on. A sunny, windy, “Mom said wear a jacket but I’m pretending I didn’t hear that” Saturday. After months of being parka-wrapped like a polar mummy, 60 degrees is the glorious after-life. A thawing, muddy nirvana whose only recollections of the former […]