Browsing Category

Random Thoughts

Life as Prayer – Summer Rerun

Yesterday was Labor Day, and I was reminded of the last line in my 2011 post Life as Prayer:

“… what we find to be work may well be what God finds to be praise.” Seemed appropriate to repost this near Labor Day as part of my Summer Rerun series. Hope you enjoy it.

Many years ago, when I was far younger than today, I was interviewing a person for an important leadership position at a ministry. He was about my age and I asked him to describe his prayer life. He answered, “My life is a prayer.”

That’s all …

Random Thoughts, The SOLD Project,

Tony Campolo is in the House

Tony Campolo has been a friend for decades. He’s constantly on the move so we do not connect in person often enough, but I still consider him one of the people who has most influenced my life. He is staying with us a couple of days to help The SOLD Project raise awareness about the prevention of child exploitation.

One of the best things about Tony — other than his deep spirituality, his quick mind, his irreverence blended with respect, and his unbridled energy — is his incredible sense of humor. And some of the funniest lines are about our …

Junkyard Management, Random Thoughts, The SOLD Project, Uncategorized,

How Did Jesus Handle Change?

I first met Ken Wytsma in Northern Thailand as we traveled with The SOLD Project. We quickly became friends and he has recently agreed to join the SOLD Board of Directors. Ken is the founder of The Justice Conference, the President of Kilns College, and is the lead pastor of the church he planted in Antioch, Oregon. And that’s just for starters. Like me, he doesn’t know how to do just one thing at a time. That’s probably why we quickly became friends.

Ken headshot I’ve always enjoyed Ken’s writing (check out his book Pursuing Justice) and recently …

Apocryphal, Random Thoughts,

The American Cowboy Myth

The American Cowboy. It’s a myth. No, not a myth as in it never happened. But a myth that shapes our self-understanding and purpose. It’s a myth in the way a sociologist uses the word: it shapes our view of the world and gives us a common bond as a society.

To many the American Cowboy is a great image of self-reliance. But other groups will call it a harmful myth keeping people from being community focused. In the business world I’ve heard the line “he’s a cowboy” be used as a derogatory reference to somebody who goes off the …

Goble Properties, Random Thoughts,

Reaching the Rich

I remember in college when a chapel speaker told us about his ministry to the rich. He was a pastor ministering at a church in Carmel. It was an interesting contrast to the many “serve the poor” speakers that came through. Thirty plus years later I’m still thinking about his talk.

In this age when so many young people want to change the world by working with the poor, I sometimes wonder if we are underinvesting in the spiritual transformation of the wealthy. I don’t mean the middle class wealthy (there are plenty of churches focused on that demographic), but …

Random Thoughts,

Did Jesus say, “The Rich Will Always Be With You”?

Want to do something special for Easter week? I recommend being uniquely and ostentatiously generous. Seriously. Keep reading and I’ll explain why.

Jesus said we will always have the poor with us. There are various interpretations of this verse, including one saying it doesn’t mean what you think.

But however you understand the words of Jesus in this passage, the focus is clearly on the poor. Right?

Well …

Let’s remember a few things. First, Jesus was addressing a group of people who were not poor. The Apostle John wrote the most detailed account because the people in the story …

Random Thoughts,

The Angry Messiah

Today is Pigeon Monday. Or at least that’s what I call it. Hopefully I’ll start a new trend! I call today Pigeon Monday because it seems Jesus had something against pigeons. That’s evident from the story about tearing up the Temple grounds.

On the Monday before Passover, Jesus entered the Temple grounds and unleashed some fury. It was always one of my favorite Bible stories when I was a kid. The vision of the Messiah overturning tables, driving people out, blocking people from bringing anything through the Temple … it was all so exciting compared to the meek and mild …

Family, Goble Properties, Junkyard Management, Random Thoughts,

Ember

My son has always been a tinkerer. We still laugh about his childhood dream of wanting to build an airplane in our backyard. I pointed out we had no tires for the plane to land with and he said, “They sell tires at Costco.” I pointed out we had no engine, which stumped him for a little while, and then he said, “We have one in Mom’s car.”

Stubborn, focused, no problem was too large to solve … he had the perfect internal hard wiring to be an inventor. And tinker he did, from Legos to woodshop to photography to …