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I’ve been on a few plane rides lately. Depending on the size of the plane, I often try to get the emergency exit row seats. I’m a little tall for the ever-shrinking standard issue airplane seat.  Inevitably, the flight attendant walks through the emergency row procedure with each of the folks seated there. If you’ve sat in one of these rows before, you know what I’m talking about.  Today as I first nodded my head and then gave the required verbal “yes,” I sensed a little nudge from the Holy Spirit. I began to think about the increased responsibility that…

Local is hot these days.  What I mean is, that our culture is moving toward “small and local” over “big and corporate.”  This is no surprise to you.  Everyone, it seems, touts “locally grown” or “artisan style” products these days.  Where my generation was enamored with finally getting a chance to have the fancy products of the big cities in our hometowns, now it seems that we’ve discovered that bigger isn’t always better and the small-town stuff we grew up with was pretty cool after all.   This notion, it seems, isn’t lost on the church either.  It turns out…

I’ve been working my way through the story of David’s rise to fame in the Old Testament (I Samuel).  Following his defeat of the giant, Goliath, King Saul honors David.  But as David’s military successes continue and his popularity grows, Saul becomes jealous, and his kingship begins to unravel.  King Saul is erratic and murderous, but his son Jonathan loves David.  Reading over these familiar texts presents once again the beauty of friendship.  David’s fame is costly to Jonathan.  It cost’s him a relationship with his father, great fortune, and the fame of being the successor to the throne of…

I love a good shopping cart. (If we’re friends on Facebook, you probably already knew that.) Not long ago I was in a retail store during a very busy season.  I grabbed the last cart available only to discover that it pulled hard to the left.  Additionally, it had a wheel that thrummed and clicked at a rhythm consistent with my pace.  Left un-corrected the cart would veer hard left and crash into people and displays causing damage.  The thumping wheel made using the cart for its intended purpose nearly impossible.  What is typically a fun experience was spoiled by…

In 586 BC, the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem and carried its people off to exile.  We can hear the prophets’ warnings and the cries of the exiles in our Old Testament.  The Israelites, however, are far from the only people to suffer exile for their faith.   CNN recently reported that in the small village of Sandino, Cuba, the first new Catholic Church since 1959 is ready to break ground.  Many of the inhabitants of this hamlet were uprooted from their homes and exiled there when Cuba officially became an atheist state.   Funny thing about exiles, though, they are resilient. …

It was completely unexpected.  A real “out of the blue” kind of happening.  For months I hadn’t taken the time to call our trash removal company and request a dumpster repair.  One of the wheels had fallen off. Each Wednesday morning found me wrestling the thing to the road, scraping up the driveway, making yet one more mental note (“…I gotta call those trash people!”)   Then, when I least expected it, I walked to the end of the driveway and there it was! A shiny new set of wheels.  (It may, in fact, have been a new dumpster. I…

Did you pay attention in school during the section on Greek Mythology? Me either, but most everyone is familiar with Hercules who was renowned for his astonishing strength. In one of his epic battles, Hercules wrestled with Antaeus throwing him to the earth repeatedly, only to find Antaeus growing stronger each time. In a twist that only Greek mythology can create, Hercules discovered that the earth was Antaeus’ mother. Each time he was thrown down, he was restored by his mother’s care. The legend says that eventually, Hercules triumphed by holding Antaeus in the air, then crushing him in a…