Tuesday's mid-term election has me pondering a multiplicity of political postulations. These are some of my questions:

Is it possible to write about politics without being political?

I want the world to sing in her Native Tongue
To sing it like when we were young
Back before the pendulum had swung to the shadow 
I want the world to sing in her Native Tongue
Maybe we could learn to sing along
To find a way to use our lungs for love and not the shadow. 
(©️Jon Foreman, Tim Foreman, Brent Kutzle)

There it was on display for all to see. People of all ages, colors, socioeconomic classes—all gathered together for a night of joy, peace, and the glorious Phoenician fall. It was beautiful.

I just got back from Belize where I spent a week with old friends, some new friends, and a super-fun team of guys from Living Streams. 

Well, we studied Acts 22 over a month ago, but there is a phrase in that chapter that I cannot get out of my head. It has lingered like a wonderful fragrance that causes me to pause and take a deep, delightful breath.

When we reached Hope for the Hungry, I thought we were just going to fill and stack boxes of food in a warehouse. As it turned out, we personally filled grocery carts for people as they came through a miniature grocery store with prepared boxes of produce, bread, meat, dairy, etc.

The Notre Dame cathedral in France has been on everyone’s mind this week. It took lots of money and loads of work hours for almost 200 years to erect a building to point people to God and commemorate the mother of Jesus.

CHRISTIANS SAY SOME CRAZY SOUNDING THINGS.

In my sermon last Sunday I said, “to be a Christian is to be the bride of Christ, pregnant with the kingdom of heaven.” See?

Old Christians never die...they just get more radical.

My dad used to have a shirt that said, “Old skiers never die…they just get more radical.” It was an embarrassing, brightly colored, 80's style shirt and he wore it all the time.

Here are a couple thoughts about grace and peace…

FIRST FOR GRACE…

Recently, a friend asked me how I was doing and I responded like this: “Things are good for the most part; but with the addition of our new foster kids, I feel like Brit and I have been pushed to the outer edge of God’s grace again.”

There I was, walking down the road, following my GPS to the creek. I reached a gate that blocked where my GPS was pointing me. I now had to decide if trespassing was worth it or not.

Though the heat is still on in Phoenix, summer break is over for my family and we are already moving on.

It still blows my mind every time I think it through: 

Right now my brain sends signals to my finger muscles, and they move my fingertips in a way that strike specific keys at sequential moments, producing signals within my computer.

How does your soul feel?

Your soul is made up of your emotions and thoughts; and your emotions and thoughts are housed in your heart and mind. 

I can hardly wait for July to be over because that is usually when everyone comes back home. I feel a sense of disconnection around the church right now and I don’t like it.

Greetings fellow Phoenicians frying in the formidable fires of this desert floor on the fifth of July.

Yesterday America turned 242. Yay America! Even with all the division and actual problems, she is still a wonderful country, filled with opportunity

Okay, mighty men and women of God who just so happen to be planted in Phoenix, Arizona, just after the turn of the 21st Century, when the cities of America have become predominately Post-Christian. 

Hello again! I hope your summer is off to a great start. Through a series of fortunate events, my family was able to spend the beginning of summer road-tripping Italy. All I can really say about it is, WOW!

There are some big questions out there that we all wrestle with from time to time: Will a team in the West, other than the Warriors, make to the NBA Finals? Will a team in the East, without Lebron, make it to the NBA Finals?

O Humanity

Drenched with the image of God
Crowned with glory from above
Capable of the greatest—love