Ken

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe." - John 6:35-36 There is an important link between actions and results. If I take action to eat better and exercise more, the expected result should be better health, energy, and stamina. Likewise, if I don't action to change a lazy lifestyle, I shouldn't expect to feel better or have more energy. In fact, I should expect to have less of the benefits. People who take action and go back to college or graduate school to earn a degree do so hoping to see that result in better job opportunities or a new career. Or the result could simply be the sense of achievement they gain. Every action (or inaction) results…

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. -- John 6:35 One of the things that struck me this morning in my reading of John 6 is the word "whoever." Over the course of seventy-one verses, it is used seven times, always by Jesus. Perhaps it struck me because today is Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. While we lived in Atlanta, I had the opportunity to visit both the King Center and Ebenezer Baptist Church (where King served as pastor). In Memphis, where my in-laws live, is the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel. It's impossible to walk through these exhibits and not be moved. What is possible ... is to return home and return to normal. To return to the way you had been before. You might be…

Alarm bells are rarely welcome but often needed. You set an alarm because you don’t want to oversleep or you need extra time to get ready. But they don’t ease you into the morning. They don’t reach over and gently rub your head -- even that might cause you to jump! I don’t normally set an alarm; my body knows when I need coffee and I just wake up. When I do set an alarm, it’s because the time I need to get up is really unusual – like a 3 am trip to the airport. Maybe you’ve had an alarm go off recently but it wasn’t on your phone or next to your bed. Maybe it was a high school friend who died unexpectedly. Or a husband who says, “We can’t keep living like this.” When my mother had breast cancer, the doctor told her “If you keep smoking you’re going…

I love bread. Back when we lived in San Diego, I remember having a conversation with a friend about what made a sandwich a great sandwich. We both decided it was the bread. The quality of the sandwich rises and falls with great bread. Most mornings, I enjoy wheat toast with Land 'O Lakes butter -- the kind made with olive oil and sea salt. Butter is important, but the bread is what makes the difference. In 2000, I decided to give the Atkins/low-carb diet a try. Overall, it was successful. I lost about 25 pounds and felt really good. Most of the diet is right up my alley: meat and cheese. But the hardest part of the diet was finding good bread. In those days, there simply wasn't any good-tasting bread that was made for low-carb diets. I was convinced that most low-carb bread was recycled cereal boxes. Low-carb pizza crusts weren't…