I learned about the  unpredictability of life way back in the summer of the 1964 when I was 8.  I describe and explain it in my column in today's Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette Sunday column.

On my late afternoon walk I encountered a man getting off the bus and walking in my direction.  He was by himself.  And yet, he was talking out loud -- and quite loudly at that.  He sounded like he was in an argument.He appeared to be in his own world, seemingly clueless that he wasContinue reading "Talking with Jesus late on a Tuesday afternoon"

Last week I argued in one of my blog posts (5/20) and in my 5/25 Sunday religion column for the Champaign-Urbana News Gazette that we need to return to head patting among our flock.  Just like Linus in the Peanuts cartoon who pats birds on the head.I said people are desperate for love, affirmation, encouragement,Continue reading "Sometimes the little human birds we pat on the head turn and bite us… What then?"

As I talk with pastors and leaders throughout the week, I realize I lay a grid over virtually all my appointments where I bring these hopes and expectations ...1.  Keep your promises, your word, your appointments.  Nothing breaks your credibility faster than not keeping your word.  Keeping your word develops discipline and integrity.2. Take prideContinue reading "When I talk with pastors & leaders I am always hoping this will happen…"

As usual, the inimitable Flannery O’Connor gets it...Faith is what you have in the absence of knowledge…and that absence doesn’t bother me because I have got, over the years, a sense of the immense sweep of creation, of the evolutionary process in everything, of how incomprehensible God must necessarily be to be the God ofContinue reading "What is faith?"

On the importance of asking great questions, I agree with renowned leader and blogger Michael Hyatt almost 100 percent... [my responses in RED.]If you are going to be a successful leader, you have to get better at asking good questions [What?, When?, Where?, How?, Why?]. You need this skill more than you need more answers.Continue reading "Cut right through the fog with the best question in the world … “What is going on?”"

Deuteronomy 29:29: "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law." * The concept in this verse is the key to dealing faithfully with painful and unjust situations. * God does not tell us everythingContinue reading "The Secret things, and there are many, belong to God"

This Peanuts comic strip ran in the paper today...  Cartoonist Charles Schulz introduced Linus van Pelt as a person who liked to pat, and thus comfort, birds way back in a 1962 comic strip. Lucy, Linus' older sister, can't believe her brother likes to pat birds. But, as you can see, the birds love being patted. I talkContinue reading "Practice patting human birds this summer…"