May 31, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
Often, when we are in a group seeking to get a lot of things done, the question consistently asked is, “Are you available?” I’ve been thinking about that, not in terms of getting certain things done, but in terms of character description. So, the question is broader...
May 26, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
I hear it often, “Are you listening?” Being with another person we often sense that the person is pleading, “Please listen.” As much as anything else, people need to be listened to. Nothing enhances our feelings of worth more than being listened to? When you listen to...
May 21, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
It was a very good article—relevant, honest, objective, non-political. Yet, in the middle of it there was a troubling observation: “While overdoses and overdose deaths have increased over the last decade in Fayette County, similar to every Tennessee county and U.S....
May 18, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
In my growing up years and in early adulthood, I often found myself often thinking and sometimes saying, “Oh, if I could be like him.” As I matured a bit more, the expression of that longing changed. I found myself seeking to ease my sense of failure by thinking and...
May 14, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. (Matthew 23:37 NIV) You may have to be from rural...
May 11, 2023 | Pondering and Kindling
People often ask me what my real name is. They want to think it’s a nickname, or short for something like Maxwell or Maximillian. Can you imagine me being named Maxwell? That’s far too predictable, far too strong. Maximillian? That’s far too...
