Church

We can be easily seduced by tools and techniques. Infomercials promise every tool imaginable to make our lives easier and more efficient. Salsa makers, grout cleaners, and the best table saw, you name it. As if the promise of a better life wasn't enough incentive, you can double your order by just paying extra shipping and handling! We also love our techniques. We look for the magic formula (technique) to reduce stress, lose weight, and double our income -- all at the same time in just fifteen minutes a day. Is it any wonder we are also so easily disappointed? We are choosing to lean on a stick when God offers his own faithfulness: "The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and…

King David of Old Testament fame was a complex man.  King and shepherd, warrior and poet.  He could lead an army and an orchestra.  At one point, he is referred to as a "man after God's own heart."  In the same Bible, the story is told of his adultery and how he plotted the murder of a faithful soldier (who happened to be his mistress' husband). The immediate fallout of David's adultery seems minimal.  His plan works, his mistress becomes his wife, and life returns to normal for the King. That is, until the prophet Nathan shows up and takes the King for a walk.  Along the way, Nathan tells King David a parable about a rich man oppressing a poor man -- steals his sheep, for heaven's sake!  Only David doesn't know it's a parable.  His anger flares and he demands that the rich man be held accountable, punished…

Google has changed everything.  My coffee tastes different, the jet stream flows in a different direction.  Everything has changed because information is at our fingertips.  We can search for (and find) coffee shops that only serve organic, fair-trade coffee, gluten-free muffins, and soy milk for the lactose intolerant.  Not only will Google help you find it, it will help you get there as well. But Google was not the first search engine. Before Google, I used search engines called Webcrawler, Lycos, or AltaVista.  You just earned an extra star at Starbucks if you used one of those, too. The first search engines simply "crawled" the internet, indexing sites by keywords and titles.  When you searched for a term, the search engine returned a list of matching sites.  It was a basic form of search and the list may or may not have contained relevant sites. Google changed everything.  Using algorithims,…

When buttoning your coat, if you get the first button correct, the rest of the buttons all line up, too.  The same is true in life ...

How often have we heard how important it is to have our priorities straight?  I'm guessing it's been more than once or twice. Why is that? The answer is simple: because we keep getting our priorities out-of-whack (that is a technical term meaning "messed up"). It's not because we want to have our priorities out-of-order. Our intentions are good. Over time, however, we get pulled or distracted or even disgruntled and our priorities begin to shift. A little here, a little there.  As our priorities shift, so do other things in life -- home, family, happiness, and contentment. One or two degrees in the wrong direction can make a big difference over time. When couples come in for counseling, they often think the most important thing is their relationship.  They ask, "What can we do to work on our relationship?"  While their relationship is not unimportant, it's not the most…