Learning
Growth
Unity
Stuff: Declutter or Repurpose?
Dan and I enjoy a ‘dump date’ from time to time. We load up the small trailer hitched to the back of the Jeep, make Chai lattes, and sail away to the dump. It’s partly the idea of having the full attention of the one I love—seat-belted in, hollering over the noise of the ‘97 Wrangler with its top down, sipping Chai from thermoses.
Resolved: Find a Counselor and a Friend in 2024
I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps like you, I have a hard time keeping them. Things like losing weight, getting in better shape, reading the Bible more all have good intentions. But my pet peeve centers on the fact that if these resolutions are good for a new year why not practice them the rest of the year? But that’s the subject of another article.
Tiny Bubbles
Days after Christmas my husband, Steve, and I were walking a trail that follows the Deschutes River. Most of the trail is single file, but some stretches are open fields and we can walk side by side and talk. Our conversation was spirited and covered unfamiliar terrain.
It’s Hebrew to Me
Did you ever have that dream where you showed up to school and you were the only one who forgot to put on clothes? Please forgive me if I’m evoking childhood trauma, but the nightmare analogy helps me make my point in this attempt at a persuasive essay.
This Year…
The other day I was drifting around on the interweb as the snow piled up outside, and came across a posting of a whiteboard sign where someone scrawled the following:
This year I want to be more like Jesus...
What If You Could Be Vulnerable?
Dan and I planted a little weeping blue spruce in our front yard two years ago. Some might say she looks a bit Dr. Seuss-ish, but I think she’s beautiful.
Christianity and Islam
The war in the Middle East has again thrust us into the Arab-Israeli conflict. We are seeing both raging anti-Semitism and hatred of Muslims in our cities and on university campuses. Unfortunately, we are also witnessing the persecution, even murder, of Palestinians in this country. This is abhorrent. How should we, as Christians, respond to these situations? How can we interact with Muslims we may come in contact with?
Exhausted and Overmatched
It's fun to listen to Jesus and his way of cutting through all the religious junk that gets in the way of a person from experiencing the God-life people were designed to have. He challenged the accepted order of things, whether from preachers or profiteers, and reached into the heart of any of his beloved with the offer of relief and pardon and purpose and rest.
Underwater Christmas
Suddenly there was the sense of coming up from the bottom of a pool. Daylight shone through the water’s surface and ripples from the push of water from below radiated outward. It was not yet the moment to break the plane out of the water and into the air.
Peeling Oranges - Part 2
A new TikTok trend called the “Orange Peel Theory” is centered around the idea that small deeds of service indicate a partner’s commitment to their significant other. These small gestures, like peeling an orange for someone, is “the acknowledgement and the feeling of being taken care of and cherished.” What would this look like if we applied this to others in our life?
For Me, It’s 11pm
couple of days ago I hit a big number. The older I get the less I care about birthdays. No need to fuss or party, since everyone has one. But decade markers make a person sit up and take notice.
Meditations on the Lord’s Supper
In most churches we partake of the Lord's Supper every month by eating a small morsel of bread and drinking a tiny cup of grape juice. We use it as a time of meditation, but do we often think of the significance of those two elements?
Third? No, Thanks
A bit ago I wrote about the parable Jesus told of the Good Samaritan. A few folks had issues with the application, as it rubbed a blister on pretty set ideas on life and culture. Living out the great commandment to love one another is often messy and never optional, regardless who needs the help.
Thinking Back, Looking Forward
As usual, it’s hard to believe that another year has already come and gone, but here we sit in 2024. At Foundry, we are very excited for the upcoming year, and we look forward to all that the Lord has in store for us in the next 12 months.
Peeling Oranges - Part 1
When was the last time you peeled an orange? Was it a Valencia, blood, or maybe a navel orange? Or maybe it was a Tangelo. Did you peel it with your teeth, your fingers, or maybe a knife? Nutrition experts advise that we should have two to five servings of fruit per day. That’s interesting, but I really don’t mean to talk about the type of oranges that grow on trees.
End of Year Thoughts
One of my guilty pleasures is to watch Tom Selleck play Jesse Stone in a few of Robert Parker's novel adaptations for TV. Whenever it cycles onto the tube I'm there, and honestly, Selleck reading the phone book would catch my attention, and the stories are a fun diversion.
The Child With Four Names
Names are important. Expectant parents peruse name lists on the internet for just the right one for their son or daughter. Biblical names often have great theological significance. For example, …
Christmas Astronomy
I imagine very few of us have seen the night sky as the ancients did. I can only point to one occasion, in high school, when I joined my youth group for an illegal border crossing into a tiny village in Mexico. We must have been a hundred miles away from the nearest candle or light bulb, and there wasn’t a hint of moisture in the desert sky. Every star, planet and UFO could be seen with precision, and the Milky Way looked so close I could almost taste it.
Who Am I?
I’ve had a secret desire to speak at the NFL Buffalo Bills chapel service. Why the Bills? Josh Allen is their quarterback and he played college football in Laramie, Wyoming where I was a pastor for 21 years.
As With Young Eyes
In our home, the days after Thanksgiving are our D Days. While others may rise early to shop, chasing Black Friday deals around town, our D Day stands for...decorating! Much of our normal stuff is put away, and in comes all things Christmas. My role is of the Devoted Schleper-man, toting bins off garage shelves and staging them in designated rooms, then scaling ladders to string outside lights, and finally, to make myself scarce.