“My son’s games are on Sunday, so we can’t make church. I try to catch the podcast while I’m working out, during the week…” I hear that with increasing frequency. The contemporary version of The Good Life (that’s the American Dream… morphed to the American Nightmare) has repainted the family portrait of the past. Sundays …
Category Archives: Weekly Post
Is there an expiration date on what you’re doing (your legacy)?
What is your destiny? What will be your legacy? Those aren’t fringe issues; they – together – create the framework for your life, for both today and tomorrow. How defined are those pursuits? Ask “the Google.” The available connections that emanate from those two signposts are significant: Destiny: 421 million hits; Legacy: 1.38 billion hits. …
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I’m available for lunch with Gates if you can arrange it…
In the last 40 years, I’ve had the opportunity to meet – and, in numerous instances, spend time with – people whose fame, like Bill Gates, makes them distant. That helps to insulate me from the risk of being star-struck. Questions like: “With whom would you like to have lunch, one-on-one?” bring a short-list to …
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A last-gasp-of-summer adventure down the Rogue River
For the last five days, I’ve been on a last-gasp-of-summer river adventure with 14 guys whose lives have come together around Kingdom stewardship: our relationships have been founded on the discoveries we’ve made – together – through the shared experience of The Master’s Program. Fifteen men, ranging from 38 to 73 (three were over 70). Four …
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Don’t go back to work without reading this
I hope you’re enjoying some time for yourself – with your family and friends – as the last gasps of Summer are enjoyed doing something that refreshes your bod and your soul… instead of work. Are you going back to work tomorrow? “Summer break” is no longer applicable for people who have checked-out forever (classic …
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He’s still awaiting trial…
These are, traditionally, known as the “Dog Days of Summer.” That’s not a technical term; it’s the colloquial calendar – between the end-of-July and the middle-of-September – when the trial of “hot and sticky” is the daily reality, and nothing of note is supposed to be happening. But, the internet functions without effects from temperature …
You’ve got the code to find the treasure…
I’m thinking about turning everything “off” until October 31st, 2020. I’ll have to vote on November 3rd, but I’ll only need a couple of days to get briefed on my options. Between now and then, people who will be in history’s dustbin one year from today will be screaming into microphones at state fairs and …
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How the best get better (great)
“It ain’t that great.” In a world ruled by personal opinions – expressed on everything from YouTube to Yelp – it doesn’t take much to order-up the headstone and doom someone/something to early death. Just let a loon with the leverage of social media express their opinion – well-founded, or embittered – in the right …
No place for loners – without communities
Summer in the communities of America has lost its innocence. Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton are offramps – not destinations – and what happens in those communities and burgs are seldom in national headlines. That was then; this is now. Towns with status that would never gain front-page prominence have, in this era, become notable …
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The countdown clock continues to tick… for our Universe, and us
In our universe, most of our days are spent in tension over things that are happening more quickly than we can update our intel and navigate ourselves – as well as our enterprises or our resources – into a place that is both safe and leveraged (a tension that is almost certainly unattainable: security avoids the risk …
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It’s time to get high… on a mountain!
“LORD, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart…” (Psalm 15:1-2). It’s Summertime, and during this mid-year departure from your year-round workaday reality, I hope you’re getting some time to be …
Are you an American? Are you a Christian?
What does it mean to be an “American?” What brings all Americans together, as one? Apparently, that question lacks an enforceable answer today. American schools – from government-backed preschools to exclusive private universities – are too-often graduating students who are derisive of all-things American (except for their freedom to dis their country). Revulsion toward the …
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Let freedom ring…
176 left to go. Before you think I’ve shifted into a hyper-philosophical mindset after a long holiday weekend celebrating freedom, hear me out… The internet has turned us into searchers; our pursuit of life has been shaped by summarizing. Come up with a few search terms, and you’ll have the latest thinking on any narrow …
A national cheek-swab for 1776andme (and the Declaration of Independence)
Happy Birthday (this Thursday we celebrate our Declaration of Independence)! We’re aging – together – within a unique experiment. Wow; we’re 243. It’s an age when we – nationally – are at risk of some corporate dementia. While we wave flags and attend parades, it’s tempting to forget where we came from. It was 93 …
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Are you COEXIST-ing, in the modern neighborhood?
COEXIST. In the modern neighborhood, there’s no better way to declare one’s trendy tolerance than to put that sticker on your bumper. Toss out your notes from your old days in Sunday School; theology for the 21st Century requires a new primer to operate the culture’s newest upgrade on your spirituality platform… COEXIST is the …
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These guys (and our Father) are anything but optional…
Before the dust settles from yesterday’s emphasis of Father’s Day, let me offer my endorsement of fatherhood – and the men who have stepped-up to the challenge – as essential to the relational integrity of society. From families to churches to communities to nations, men play a critical role in bringing people together in mutually-beneficial …
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The Reality Program we’re forced to watch…
The race has begun; it will end in 512 days… and then start up again. I’ve lived through 16 presidential election cycles, and that experience does not energize me regarding the next 17 months. Cursed with digital devices programmed to deliver “Breaking News” with no legitimacy filter, anything having to do with the two dozen …
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Fools are Fearless; the Wise are Afraid
No: Be afraid. Be very afraid. The line has become nearly ubiquitous; its modern origin is the 1986 horror flick, The Fly. Jeff Goldblum is the quirky scientist; Geena Davis is the reporter working to expose his teleportation work. As Goldblum’s lab goof sends him into species transfer, he tries to reassure the reporter: “Don’t …
Will you be remembered?
This is a profound season for 3,245,900 young adults in America: graduating from high school, and they represent a unique generation. They – and their younger siblings – live in a period unlike any before: America has been at war – continually – through their entire lifetimes. Years ago, the Joy family were contemporaries in …
The last message you’ll hear, graduates, before the bell
Graduates from all grade levels – elementary, middle, high, undergrad and graduate schools – are lining up to “walk” at their respective graduation ceremonies. For the high school-and-beyond graduate events, the restless students and their attentive families will likely be subjected to untested advice from a special celebrity guest who cleared the ever-changing vetting criterion …
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Your identity is on the line
That sick feeling you had when you got rolling today; what is that? After you finished the get-ready process and tuned in on what’s waiting for you – out there, in the world you’re commuting into – how did that tune you up for your day? Oh, yeah: we’re at war… and you’re in the …
When first isn’t first anymore – the Kentucky Derby
Parties were widespread over the weekend for the Kentucky Derby and Cinco de Mayo. For the Kentucky  Derby Mint Julep set, the festivities on Saturday happened at Churchill Downs, the iconic Thoroughbred racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky (home to the fried chicken made famous last week, on Capitol Hill). Opened in 1875, in its first year of …
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Are you a consumer or investor?
Are you a consumer or investor? “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus…” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) Thursday is the National Day of Prayer. In 1952, Congress passed a resolution calling for that annual focus; it was signed by Truman and has been part …
 It’s all in how you see it…
Tell me what you see; I’ll know more about who you are…  an empty tomb? an ink blot? It’s more widely panned than practiced, but everyone knows the essence of the test. Created 98 years ago by Hermann Rorschach, the 10 cards – each with inkblots – are the basis for subjective interpretation and, based …
History is impacted by Average Joes
Maundy, Maundy, so good to me… Culture has appropriated history, time and again, reframing the timeless in an effort to reinvent it for modern meaning. It was The Mamas and The Papas who sang, “Monday, Monday, so good to me…” But Monday isn’t Maundy… Today is Maundy Thursday. The cultural calendar of 2019 isn’t likely …
There’s a News Blackout in the Newspaper…
“Don’t believe everything that you read in the newspapers.” In the next seven days, some little kids will be pulled away from their digital devices to participate in a timeless outdoor game that harkens from history: it’s the week for Easter Egg Hunts to be the springtime version of Halloween. Plastic eggs – loaded with …
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How the Best get Better – “Will it make the Boat go Faster?”
Twenty years ago, the British Rowing Team was preparing for the 2000 Olympic Games to be held in Sydney. They hadn’t won a gold in that competition since 1912; no one considered them to be contenders, and they knew it. To step-up, their standards would require a new team strategy… Come Summer 2000, their strategy …
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Jesus – Invest two hours: Eternity in return
Have you seen Jesus? (Note: this is not an April Fools ruse…). That’s not a rhetorical question: in a real sense, he’s missing… and it seems that the trail has gone cold. It’s not Jesus the person; it’s Jesus the painting. Called Salvator Mundi (the Savior of the World), it is believed to be the …
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Has “lack-of-patriotism” become a “badge of courage”?
Here’s my informed opinion: you’re one of my friends who is not looking for something else to do. Your plate is full, and the requests for your time are backed up like planes waiting to land at O’Hare. Despite the jammed portfolio of mission-critical assignments into which you must devote significant attention, your participation and …
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Could your Calling come in a bottle of Guinness?
Let me lead off with a confession/reveal: though I’ve not employed 23andMe to examine my personal family history, I’m pretty sure that I have no significant link to Irish forebears. Both of our daughters were given names with an Irish lilt (Shannon and Erin), but the only “green” in our family hangs in the closets, …
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