Category: Random Ruminations

One of the great frustrations that many people have with the Kingdom of God is the apparent disconnect between Christian ideals and Christian conduct.  The poison pill in all of this is that dreaded straw man known as hypocrisy.  It is not just a metaphorical scriptural stumbling block (Mt 18:5-7, et al), it is a … Continue reading Thoughts on Being a Christian Gentleman in a Carnal Culture

On June 25, 1973 a young attorney who had served as White House Counsel began his testimony before the United States Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities (the Watergate Committee) with a the following quote.... "I began by telling the president that there was a cancer growing on the presidency and that if the … Continue reading A Cancer in the Body

We've all dealt with it.  You know the attitude.  "I don't have to go to Church to be a Christian", they say.  "God knows my heart" or, as one songwriter suggested "...me and Jesus, we got our own thing going".  As frustrating as that is to anyone who knows anything about relationship dynamics at any … Continue reading It Really Is A Big Deal

For any man with children, Fathers Day can be nothing short of intimidating.  There are few if any institutions in western civilization that have been more maligned, misinterpreted, and misrepresented.  Popular culture has conspired to make Dad into the designated buffoon in every comedy, the unstable variable in every drama, and the villain in every … Continue reading Who Broke the Baby?

There are times when I look up from what I'm doing and wonder how I ended up in this alternate reality.  Admittedly, some of that disorientation comes from the fact that I'm about to enter the upper middle of middle age, and taking inventory is becoming reflexive almost to the point of obsessive.  When a … Continue reading In Search of Fossils.

Just prior to WWII in the doldrums of the seemingly inescapable Great Depression, Robert K Merton popularized a concept from his position as a research assistant at Harvard that has become orthodoxy in the field of sociology - that of the law of unintended consequences.  His basic thesis, like so much fundamental truth, reflects spiritual … Continue reading Did I Do That?

Just look at me.  LOOK AT ME!!  OK, Okay.... that's a little over the top, but it is, in a nutshell, the primary first impression that unbelievers are often asked to respond to when confronted with 'Christian' ministry.  The enemy knows quite well that man's greatest vulnerability is in his own reflection.  The Roman poet … Continue reading Ain’t I a Dandy?!

Just in case anyone wondered, I am not nor have I ever been a runner.  Thankfully there wasn't room to run very far on submarines, or my military career might have looked a little different.  Between a predilection to development of shin splints and a genetic predisposition to corpulence, this ole body just ain't made for … Continue reading The Finish Lines

"A man cannot truly be born again until he sees his own nature with convicted eyes, and develops a murderous contempt for the sin that caused his ruin."

  There it was - glaring into the night sky to be seen from miles around reflecting off the clouds, looking from a distance like the horizon was ablaze.  As our old Chevy navigated the empty mountain interstate, it seemed as if every curve and undulating hill brought us closer to that looming inferno.  Closer … Continue reading Neon Sign on the Off-Ramp