Search and Rescue (SAR) training had two major divisions: training for SAR personnel, and training for those who would be out on the trails. The second focused on how to avoid getting lost — and, if lost, how to make yourself "findable." One of those programs was aimed at youth. Called Hug-A-Tree, it continues to
I've never written poetry. This arrived one evening uninvited.OBEYFormed by God for his purposeJoined by evil at birth Fragments upon contact with the worldCountless pieces molded by time Pieces coalesce into selfOther pieces resist. Remnants.Floating, tormenting, avoidant Self has new partners. Not within. Not without.Where does one end and the other begin When one dies
I was lied to. And now I must deal with the resentment. The lie? "Be normal." From my earliest memories, I was told to "fit in," to "act normally." Problem is, I wasn't normal. At least not in the normal sense of, well, normal. This was true before I came to faith, and it is
Years ago I worked for a small manufacturing company. We made, well, let's call them widgets. It was a very "dynamic" environment — I held seven different titles in eighteen months. So did many others in leadership. The owner would "tweak" things every time he finished a new management book. At some point in this
One can no more *choose* to be born again than to be born in the first place. Our second birth is foretold by the birth of Jesus. God's will expressed through the consent of a woman, resulting in a new life. Now, hear me clearly — I am not suggesting our rebirth makes us divine.
For nearly a decade, I have worked to surrender the old me — the worldly me — and take on the version of self God designed. I came to call the old version the "false self": the self created by exposure to evil and sin, shaped by immersion in culture, motivated by pride and selfishness.
For most of my adult life, I explained myself wrong. Not in the dramatic way — I wasn't constructing a false persona or performing for a room. What I had was subtler than that, and in some ways harder to undo. I had absorbed explanations. For why I withdrew from people who got close.
“In this world, not of this world.” This often-repeated paraphrase of Jesus’ words can help us remember our place. But it also risks losing an important direction: we are set apart from the world in order to be sent back into it. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the
I still have a few of my old college textbooks—physics, statistics, calculus, and such. They’re the same books I had on the first day of class, but my understanding and use of them has changed. I internalized some concepts —go ahead, ask me the rate of acceleration due to gravity; I can still quote
It started with a donut. I was driving down the road and passed a favorite donut shop. Normally, seeing their sign would trigger the urge to pull in and grab a donut—or a dozen. But not that day. The urge was gone. I wasn't trying to cut out donuts because of a diet (though
NOTE: I have far too many ideas and thoughts stuck as "drafts" because I have this unrealistic need to "polish" every thought. No more. Below is the first of my new "Stream of Consciousness" series of posts. I hope you find value. .... The primary obstacle to knowing God is the smallness of our
What is faith? For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8–9 (NIV) For a long time, I thought faith was mostly a mindset—belief, trust, agreement with certain truths. But as
I had a dorm room to myself for one semester way back in 1982. Studying physics and math left little time for the kinds of things that usually occupy a typical college freshman. To clear my mind during study sessions, I’d throw darts—sometimes even in the dark. Only the dim light from my Pioneer
Written by St. John of the Cross. c. 1578 I. In a dark night, With anxious love inflamed, O, happy lot! Forth unobserved I went, My house being now at rest. II. In darkness and in safety, By the secret ladder, disguised, O, happy lot! In darkness and concealment, My house being now at rest.
What kinds of boots should I buy? What kind of knife? What about a compass (or two)? Gear was the primary focus of my early days in Wilderness Search and Rescue (SAR). It was also the focus years later when I taught SAR classes. Without fail, students used the first break of the class to
I have spent a fair amount of time driving the back roads of South and North Carolina. I'm amazed at the number of little churches tucked away in rural communities. Dozens of denominations with at least one thing in common: a cross on the steeple. I've also noticed many large modern churches in nondescript
I was on the track team during my junior year in high school, typically competing in the mile and half-mile races. I won a few and lost a few more. One weekend our team was competing in an invitational at Edwardsburg High School (Michigan). I arrived at the event ready to run the mile race
At 4.2 light-years away, Alpha Centauri is the nearest star system to the earth other than the sun. According to astronomers, the furthest star visible to the unaided human eye is the variable star V762 Cas, an estimated 16,000 light-years away. For those not versed in astronomical terms, a light-year is the distance light
This weekend I did some carpet cleaning. As I read the instructions on the rental cleaner, a note caught my eye: "When the dirty water is nearly clear, your carpet is clean". This was new to me. In the past, I'd simply cleaned until the visible dirt was gone (or nearly gone). After a
I'm down to six hours before I have to be out of my apartment. A little over sixty days ago, God told me to move. To not renew my lease. I had hoped that in the sixty days between giving notice and moving out, God would provide some answers. Where am I going? Why am
"Maybe this isn't about being comfortable." Asked to perform a familiar task in a new setting, a friend of mine offered this observation. Although being helpful is in her nature, she admitted she wasn't comfortable with the new situation. I recently had grown accustom to the idea of being "without comfort." I lived in an
In our modern culture, waiting often feels like a complete waste of time. Everything is "instant" and "on-demand". We expect immediate gratification. However, God doesn't work that way. He has proven that to me over the past year or more. The other day, I was reading through the book of Psalms. I came across a
Remember the kids' game telephone? A group of kids would sit in a circle. A phrase would be given to the first child who would whisper it to the second. The second would whisper it to the third and so on until the last child heard the phrase. I doubt the last child ever said
As we are told in Genesis, God created the universe and everything in the universe. God created the birds, each "according to its kind". And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of
"Prayer Answered by Crosses" by John Newton I ask’d the Lord, that I might grow In faith, and love, and ev’ry grace, Might more of his salvation know, And seek more earnestly his face. ‘Twas he who taught me thus to pray, And he, I trust has answer’d pray’r; But it has been in such
Merriam Webster defines "bird brain" as a stupid person or scatterbrain. Perhaps somewhat unfairly, as many birds are quite intelligent. But that thought came to mind the other day as I watched a chickadee feeding at a small feeder outside my window. On that day, the cute little chickadee was determined to get the large
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