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Thoughts on Marriage After 59 years of married life, Kay and I have learned some things about marriage and we are continuing to learn from the Lord and from good companions.  Here in brief form are some of those things.  They are not in any order of priority.  They are all important to us. Each of us needs to be experiencing a walk with the Lord. Being transformed to be like Jesus is a lifelong experience – without this journey none of the other ideas work. Getting our needs met: We have learned that this is a burden we are not to lay on each other.  The place to begin with having needs met is with Jesus.  And we are part of the Body of Christ so some of these needs are...

The Antioch Fellowship For many years I have studied and pondered the things that made the fellowship that Jesus empowered in the first century so powerful and life-giving. The fellowship of believers in Antioch is one of the places these where we get a glimpse of these things.  Here are some observations about this fellowship: Acts 11:19-30 The church was founded by a group that had been scattered by the persecution of Jesus followers in Jerusalem. It was essentially a lay church.  It seems right that some leaders in our fellowships should be supported financial by others.  But if this creates an organization that exalts the “professionals” above the other sisters and...

  “Nietzsche responded, ‘At times I think I’m the most alone man in existence.  It has nothing to do with the presence of others – in fact, I hate others who rob me of my solitude and yet do not truly offer me company.’ “What do you mean, Friedrich?  How do they not offer you company?” “By not holding dear the things I hold dear!  Sometimes I gaze so far into life that I suddenly look around and see that no one has accompanied me.” When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin Yalom When I read this portion as I was flying back from Washington, D.C. in early October I immediately agreed with the thought that few people hold dear what I hold dear.  And of course I was wrong and...

When Kay and I moved back to Oregon in 1996 our friends, Iral and Gwen Barrett, asked us to spend time with some of the Young Life staff in the Salem area.  In a couple years there were several of these dedicated young people we were privileged to meet with.  Chad Watson suggested that we could provide opportunities for personal reflection and also for community building if we invited them to meet together for a day once a month.  For the past 18 years I have had the privilege to do this with some the Young Life staff in my part of Oregon.  During these times of quiet reflection (followed by some vigorous discussions) I have learned a great deal about my walk with the...

       Jesus Christ in Every Culture                                     Acts 10:1-48   Many have observed that the message of Jesus Christ becomes limited in its appeal because we attach national, religious, theological and institutional cultures to the message of Jesus.  In truth, the only thing we can properly communicate across these human barriers is the simple message of Jesus. Acts ten is the account of God dealing with Peter to free him from his cultural bias so he could go beyond his culture and communicate Christ to the Roman soldier, Cornelius.  In the narrative, it becomes obvious that religious bias is very difficult to overcome and that the release of...

We see what we choose to see.  I can look at the world in which I live and see the distrust and disunity that seems to plague the best efforts of men and women to create organizations and groups that function to help people.  This is a theme that is often played in the muted tones of gossip, damning with faint praise and other subtle ways of undercutting others.  It is also a theme blasted at us like rap music by the ambitious and arrogant in their raw use of power to accomplish their self-serving ends. Without the humility and warmth which you have to develop in your relations to the few, with whom you are personally involved, you will never be able to do anything for...

One of the difficulties in trying to be helpful to others lies in the complexity of our motives. We genuinely desire to help people. Often, however, we want our help to produce changes for the better in the people being helped.  On a national level this is seen in our policies towards developing nations.  We are very generous in our giving to help the needy.  We also want to control the way our aid is used to make sure “change” is taking place.  This is especially true when the giving is done through government, but it is often woven into the warp and woof of all the humanitarian efforts of even the most dedicated followers of Jesus Christ. “I am by nature...

The Flaming Arrow I have been studying the book of Ephesians with Beau St. Peter, the Young Life director for Keizer, Oregon.  There have been a lot of helpful thoughts for both of us as we encourage each other on our journeys with Jesus. Recently, we were in chapter six and a teaching from my dear departed friend, John Gilman, surfaced in our discussion.  Paul wrote to his friends in Ephesus that they should “take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”  John Gilman taught that the flaming arrow is a lie wrapped in a truth.  The truth coming at you keeps you from protecting yourself from the arrow, but when it hits...

Responses from blog on loss The responses on “Friends Leaving Us” has affirmed things that were written in our original post and also gave new insights into this issue. Many wrote a note saying thank you for the help this has been from Kay and I processing our losses.  Several have written with more detail and asked that their comments stay just between us.  But others have added insights that they have agreed could be shared.  The following are those sharings: From Lynnette Hughes, Arlington, VA  “I learned so much walking with Esther, my lifelong friend and later my dad’s wife, as she transitioned to life on the other side!  I definitely saw how working through...