Category Archives: SELF

BUTTING IN LINE.101815

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Merging trafficSo I have this real serious problem.  I’m obsessed with people butting in line.  As for pedestrian butting, it irritates me considerably when three or four people are waiting and the one who arrived last steps up out-of-order.  Sometimes I just can’t resist the temptation to say something rude like, “Didn’t your momma teach you any manners?  Those other people were here first.”  You know, it’s just not right, it’s just not fair, it’s just not polite. I just can’t believe the gall of some people.  What happened to courtesy?

Sometimes I almost wish that America would adopt the custom they have in Mexico for waiting in line. In a bus station late one night at least 200 people waiting to buy tickets, and ONE ticket window open, and everyone in a great big semicircle jostling and side-stepping, ducking and jiving, working their way to the front.   Continue reading →

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SILLY GAMES, GOD and MY EGO.070815

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Father playing chess with sonNowadays, if you want to spend time with your kids, many dads play video games.  It’s fun, even if the kids beat you.  Not so long ago, before the days of I-phones, on a rainy or snowy day, dads and kids would play table games.  Checkers, chess, cards, spoons, dominoes, maybe even Monopoly.  We used to play Scrabble.  In good weather, when it wasn’t too hot or cold, we’d get outside and play horseshoes, or a pick-up game of baseball or touch football. Oh, and ping-pong.  We used to stand in the garage and play ping-pong til the wee hours. All fun, light-hearted entertainment.  I don’t know about you, but some of the best times of my life, both as a kid and as a dad, were spent playing silly games with my dad or my kids.

Two observations: 1 The games weren’t just silly, often they were serious; and 2 There was a lot more going on there than fun, light-hearted entertainment. Continue reading →

WHAT HAPPENS NOW? 052115

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[This is an excerpt from a Kairos Talk: Tomorrow]

Bible Group Praying TogetherCan we be changed?   Yes, but not by ourselves. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.  It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”  To be changed, we must accept the gift of God.  We must realize how badly we need Him, and then give our whole selves to Him, and trust Him to take care of us, because we finally figured out we can’t take care of ourselves.

The guys at your family table are your brothers.  Christ’s challenge to you is to take care of them.  To stick up for them.  To meet regularly with them for prayer and share group. Continue reading →

THE BIG ‘S’ and the little ‘s’. 051505

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[This is an excerpt from the Kairos talk ‘A Christian’]

Off-road on difficult road after rain

I want to tell you a little something about sin.  There’s two kinds of sin; there’s the Big ‘S’, and the little ‘s’.  The little ‘s’ is all the things we usually think of as sins, like lying, cheating and stealing, and sleeping with your neighbor’s wife; even murder, falls under this category.  While murder is a big sin, it’s on a completely different level from the Big “S”.  The Big S is Sin with a capital “S”.

The Big S is the letter that begins the word Self.  Seems like Self is the biggest obstacle standing between us and God.  The Big S is also the first letter of Satan.  I hate to capitalize Satan’s name, but it’s his name.  Let me tell you what happened to Satan.  He was one of God’s favorite angels, he was called Lucifer, the angel of light.  Our Hispanic brothers know La Luz is the light, and that was Satan’s name.  Continue reading →