April 18, 2015 It was a wake-up call, at 5:12a… On April 18th, 1906 – 110 years ago this morning – the 400,000 residents of San Francisco had another hour before sun-up, but their dark world got darker as the earth shook for over a minute. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake – and the fires that …
Tag Archives: point of view
The Last can Still be First
April 11, 2016 Meanwhile, Saul… God is a great storyteller. The Gospels – four independent voices, writing biographies of Jesus – got the ball rolling in the New Testament with their accounts of our Founder. The Acts of the Apostles (“Acts”) pick up the story at Jesus’ ascension and give us Chapter One of the …
What will they find at your house?
April 4, 2016 “How much did he leave?” He left it all… It’s an old quip; no one claims it as original (including me). It’s the one-liner that captures a fact that is replayed, over and over in real-time: some of life’s metrics cease to hold meaning at death; there are other metrics which have …
You’re Not Going to Believe This…
March 28, 2016 I must have been bcc’d on this exchange, again; because it was a holiday weekend, and I couldn’t reach anyone to get myself off their distribution list. Thought you might want to see this… —–Original Message—–From: simon@galileefishing.com To: Jacob Dear Jacob, First, change your contact info for me: I’m going back to …
Stay tuned: he’s likely to win big this week
March 21, 2016 This e-mail appeared in my in-box this morning; it was routed to the wrong address (mine) in the wrong century (sent in the 1st; landed in the 21st). It didn’t have that “confidential – addressee only” message at the bottom, so I’m forwarding it to you. Interesting… —–Original Message—– From: simon@galileefishing.com To: …
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Mud wrestling has rules
March 14, 2016 Over the last 30 years, I have spent thousands of hours in front of crowds – on Sunday mornings, and other occasions – telling them what I really believe. Each of those settings was wrapped in a “nonprofit, Christian ministry” package. That isn’t a free-for-all territory; that ministry space has rules… As …
Maybe the Majority Doesn’t Win
March 7, 2016 It’s all in the Numbers. If you’re glued to the incessant election updates running across the bottom of any screen, you could call a time-out on life for the next eight months, until the final numbers are tallied. Until then, primaries and caucuses – polls and projections – will keep everyone on …
Is this just another day?
February 29, 2016 Not much happens on this date. In 1644, Abel Tasman launched his second Pacific voyage (not much of note in trip #2; he found Tasmania in #1). In 1768, Polish noblemen founded the Bar Confederation. In 1892, St. Petersburg, FL was incorporated. In 2012, the Skytree tower in Tokyo was completed (currently …
No Risk; No Reward
February 22, 2016 This is your week. Back in 2007, it was “official;” in June of ’06, the US Congress passed a bill designating the last week of February “National Entrepreneurship Week.” It was “celebrated” in 2007… but, about 10 months later, the Great Recession came in like a flood, and attention was diverted from …
Does Anybody Measure Up?
February 15, 2016 Leaders can make the difference. Today is a National Holiday; you’re either “off,” or you’re trying to work and frustrated by the number of people you’re trying to contact who aren’t responsive. Don’t wait around for the mail to arrive; it isn’t coming until tomorrow. While some are now calling it Presidents …
Could a Loser be the Winner?
February 1, 2016 It’s a great day for Groundhogs. They must be spending the day getting ready for tomorrow’s festivities. “Six more weeks of winter” is a mantra they must teach their young, from their earliest days in the burrow. Tomorrow, all eyes will be on Punxsutawney awaiting the big announcement… It may be anticlimactic, …
How to Vet a Political Poser
January 25, 2016 Who are you, really? We live in a country with lots of posers (“a person who acts in an affected manner to impress others”). Worse: a bunch of them are campaigning for significant political positions, in search of our support. The science of politics has become complex: voting blocks have been identified, …
Do you have “The Vision Thing?”
January 18, 2016 It’s the vision thing. Two weeks ago, Cheri and I were in Prague, touring the Castle Grounds: an incredible complex of buildings dating back a millennium, where the Kingdom of Bohemia – part of the Holy Roman Empire – had its political center. In the collection of buildings is the Cathedral of …
Your choice: new paint job… or, brand new?
January 4, 2016 new Not existing before; made, introduced or discovered recently, or, now, for the first time; just beginning and regarded as better than what went before. For the next few weeks, we’ll all be shaking the holiday dust off our tongues. Standard greeting, at least until the Pro Bowl: “Happy New Year!” Everybody …
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The 2-Minute Warning for 2015
December 28, 2015 Where do you look: what’s happening on the field… or, at the numbers on the scoreboard? The best answer is probably “C:” which is, “all of the above.” In football, we’re heading into the Bowls; college and pros will both provide excitement aplenty between now and February 7. The live crowd will …
Do it ’til it hurts
December 21, 2015 Its origins are fascinating. The word isn’t that old – birthed in the 16th Century – but the concept dates from Creation. From Latin – through Middle French – generous meant “of noble birth.” It came to denote one who was magnanimous, unselfish and plentiful. With everything at their disposal, the …
The Path to Prosperity
December 14, 2015 Feliz Navidad, y Prospero Año Nuevo. We’re seeing the resurgence of the Post Office; this is their big month. Our mailbox should have a “No Vacancy” sign; Christmas Cards now outnumber new credit card offers in the stack. Lots of photo cards; we get to see everyone in our relational world, at …
Before you buy those Starbucks Cards…
November 30, 2015 Who’s on your list? What are you going to give them? Those are the questions most asked, for the next 24 days in modern culture. For 11 months, many people are driven by their hit list: they maintain an archive of names – people who have “done them wrong” (bad grammar; bad …
Should we boycott “red” for Christmas?
November 16, 2015 If we had a public relations department, they’d be ballistic right now. There’s a two-year campaign underway to fill the Leader of the Free World position for four years, at a critical time in human history. A radical Islamic terror group is attacking Western Civilization at-will, and producing massive casualties. Christians around …
Maybe playing it safe is the greatest danger
October 26, 2015 I don’t know what you did for dinner last night, but I’m sure it was a bit different than mine. Despite the American headlines, Cheri and I are in the middle of a trip to Israel, along with 25 friends from the Master’s and Barnabas communities. Sunday evening, we were in Sderot, …
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What’s your heart language?
October 19, 2015 When you live in Southern California – and travel a lot – the grief is just a fact of life. People – are they jealous? – love to poke fun at Californians for our “distinctives.” The two top grief-getters are our lack of seasons (palm trees don’t change colors); and, our earthquakes …
Are you Addicted to Approval?
October 12, 2015 Be careful when picking heroes. Every aspect of life operates with the same basic ground rules: pick a category, and you can populate the space. The players come in-order, on-cue: first, the Originator (syn: creator, discoverer, pioneer, innovator); these are the few who live “to explore strange new worlds; to seek out …
In a dead heat… who’s the loser?
September 28, 2015 Cut the baby in half. That seems an unreasonable directive… if you don’t know the whole story. It was about 3000 years ago – a few election cycles in the past – when the new king of Israel was in his freshman year. Solomon was the come-from-behind winner of the Game of …
How Bad Can It Get?
September 21, 2015 Things are getting really, really bad. You knew that, already; anyone who is not comatose – and, can get their eyes off their smart phone/video game for a few minutes of perspective – would reach the same conclusion. But, no; it’s worse: That same headline could be posted over almost every category …
Are you at risk for a toxic event?
August 17, 2015 It was once called “The River of Lost Souls.” Named by Spanish explorers in the 1700s, what is now the Animas (Spanish: “souls”) River, in Southwest Colorado, flows south out of the San Juan Mountains – past Durango – into New Mexico, where it ultimately joins the San Juan River on its …
Not Ashamed
June 29, 2015 “You should be ashamed of yourself!” In an earlier era, that was a common maternal reaction to an out-of-bounds kid. Parenting wasn’t as complicated as it is today. The approach to family oversight was a simple, two step process: 1) lay down the law; and, 2) enforce it. Enforcement would begin with …
Fathers
July 22, 2015 “Who’s your daddy?” Back in ’68, Zombies weren’t starring in prime-time television (The Walking Dead); instead, they were a British rock band with the hit, Time of the Season. Their lyric asked the question: “Who’s your daddy? Is he rich like me?” Their question has been abbreviated, and is still asked as …