Whose Fault Is This?

Whenever something bad happens, we become preoccupied with the question of “whose fault is this”. I think we all have this tendency, whether we recognize it in ourselves or not.  The “blame game” is as old as Adam’s attempt to throw Eve under the bus in the garden. Perhaps this is why there are rampant …

Told You So

Nobody likes an “I told you so”.  But… I told you so. For years I have been saying things like “if we can redefine marriage to include same sex unions, why can’t we redefine marriage as ‘poly’; i.e. more than two?  Why not three?  Why not six?”  I’m sure there were some that pooh poohed …

Never Waste a Crisis

One of the maxims that has been attributed to former Congressman, White House Chief of Staff, and Chicago Mayor, Rahm Emanuel is ‘You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before... You never want …

When Helping Hurts

What we today call “social justice” or “compassionate public policy” toward the poor and needy did not exist before William Wilberforce and his associates lobbied the English Parliament for decades in the early to mid-1840s for programs that would help the destitute.  Known mostly as the man who got slavery banned and the slave trade …

No Spirit of Fear

Have you heard?  There was a run on Costco over the weekend!  When on Sunday afternoon, my son Ethan ran to Costco for something and came back saying, “Man, Costco was packed”, I didn’t think much about it.   While a bit of an unusual situation outside the holiday season, I simply dismissed it as an …

Are You in Trouble?

Do you remember as a child when your friends or siblings said in that tone of accusation, “Aww, are you ever in trouble now?”  Some transgression had occurred.  Some misstep on your part was taken.  Some family or social rule had been violated and your peers knew you were going to be in trouble.  You …

Who Will Roll Away the Stone?

Jesus was dead. He was consigned to the grave in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb.  And even though he had several times taught his disciples, and then by extension it is assumed, his inner core of followers, that he would rise again, they did not yet understand or believe that such would happen. But that would …

Hello…This is God Speaking

Perhaps you have had the experience of answering a phone and the person calling begins his conversation by saying something like, “Hello, this is Jeff Maxim speaking.” Or perhaps you have been out of sight of someone and called to them and said, “Hey, this is Bob speaking.” The point is, that it is not …

Where Did All Your Friends Go?

Human beings long for friendship.  Some people can live without friendship relationships.  Instead of friends they have a bevy of human relations in business, neighborhoods, organizations, and family.  But while having many “friends” they do not need those relationships to be of the kind that fills some kind of void or meets some kind of …

Popular

I listen to Pandora radio in my office.  Sorry, but I do.  I have developed a number of different “stations” that play the kind of music that is helpful to me when I do office work and study. You see, the main hallway of our church is located right outside my office so there is …