A part of my usual morning routine–at least on Monday through Friday–is listening to a podcast by a man with whom I disagree on some very important doctrinal positions. While those positions are discussed from time to time, most of his podcast has to do with current events and various social and societal matters from what he calls a “Christian worldview.”   I’m well aware of the fact that some may ask the question in the title: “Why do you listen to him?” Why, indeed, would I listen to a person with whom I don’t totally agree? Lately, I’ve been giving some thought to that question. I’ve also given some thought to…

Judging is very difficult, because it requires a hard balance. Some think we should make no judgments at all, because that is loving. (Although they don’t recognize the irony in that, because they have made a judgment to decide they should not judge.) Others are too quick to judge about everything. (They are often seen stalking in the comments section of your social media accounts.) An example of the latter occurred recently in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Local police were tipped off that someone was violating covid-19 lockdown orders and sitting inside a restaurant. The tip was sent in because, in that location, no restaurants were to be…

Hopefully, all of us value the relationships we have with others. Whether we are talking about family, friends, neighbors, people at work, or other kinds of interactions we may have, a good, healthy relationship with others blesses us in so many ways.   I’ve been doing some thinking lately about how valuable these relationships are. I’ve also been thinking about how I can do what I can to enhance those relationships. You will probably be able to add to what I’ve come up with, but here are some things that I think are vitally important. Wake up I need to wake up to the value of the people who are dear to me. I…

A young man in North Carolina took the slowness of the covid-19 pandemic in stride. Since his classes were online, he decided to take as many as he could, and also took some online classes from a community college. (If my understanding is correct, some of the classes counted for both his high school and college.) So, on May 21, he will be receiving an associate’s degree from his local community college and seven days later, will receive his high school diploma. Oh, the boy…is twelve years old! [Source] I had a lot of reactions to that story, not the least of which was wondering what I was doing when…

For a number of years, I served as the director of one session of a church camp in southeast Missouri (Bootheel Youth Camp). Every once in a while, I’d break out my “official church camp director’s cap.” It was a different color than the one in the picture above, but it contained the same message (“I’m their leader; which way did they go?”). I usually didn’t wear the cap long. I just wore it long enough to get about all of the laughs I thought I could get and then “retired it” until another session of camp. I was very happy when it came time for the “retirement” because I do not like wearing…

The phrase “seeing red” usually has a negative connotation. If somebody tells you that they are seeing red, it would probably be a good idea to avoid them for a while until they can (to use another well-worn phrase) “cool down.” I would like to suggest that there are some ways to “see red” that might be helpful. They may be helpful as we relate to others and as we consider the most important relationship we need to have. I am writing these words during a time when our country is very divided. I’m old enough to remember other times we were divided by political ideologies, racial tensions, our nation’s involvement in various…