Tag Archives: grace

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Hope from the Ashes

Hope from the Ashes
Andrea and I went hiking a few days ago in Waterton National Park.  It is a lovely treasure just a couple of hours drive from home.   With COVID-19 restrictions being slowly lifted the park was being reopened on a limited basis so we took the opportunity to visit. We set out along a trail…
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Seeing through Jesus

Seeing through Jesus
Hey Mike,  We know, according to scripture, God chose the Israelites as his people. Joined together under a covenant. There were several other tribes or nations on the earth and they must have had their own creation stories and modes of worship so was God not with them? It wouldn’t be Yahweh, but it would…
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Fear Not but if you do that’s okay

Fear Not but if you do that’s okay
“Fear not” or something similar is said to be found approximately 365 times in the bible.  It seems to be a significant thread throughout the scriptures and yet, beyond face value what is to be made of these two words? if we come from a legalistic tradition, we might understand these exhortations as commands.  Edicts…
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The Crazy Father

The Crazy Father
A father had two sons, and one of his sons came to him and said, “Dad, I have been thinking it’s time for me to leave and find myself. I need to figure out who I am and make my own fortune, my own way in the world. So, what I would like is for…
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I wish I could hate them.

I wish I could hate them.
I wish I could hate them. In ways, it would be so much easier. Their violence, racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, xenophobia, greed, exploitation of the poor, the anything-to-win-politics and indiscriminate, consumption of the planet and each other.  I hate the scapegoating, half-truths, spins ... all the bullshit.  I hate the value of winning at all…
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Thorns of Life

Thorns of Life
I came across this story while listening to the audiobook version of The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer.  It struck me so profoundly I spent the next few kilometers repeating the stunned mantra of “oh wow... oh wow...”.   I was so moved that I wanted to retell in my own words to reduce the…
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Games we play to Avoid Dealing with Emotional Pain

Games we play to Avoid Dealing with Emotional Pain
I’m a little Tea Pot... when I get all steamed -up hear me shout!  A familiar nursery rhyme but what an interesting allegory when we are talking about heart-wounds, stress and emotional pain.  Picture yourself as a tea-pot (or kettle). Add some water, some heat, and when water boils, steam (energy) is released through the…
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Missing God in both Success and Failure

Missing God in both Success and Failure
Why is it that when I sense a leading from God and follow through, the results so profoundly determines my hindsight? If things fit together with ease and all goes well I am confident that I have indeed heard God. Alternately, if things blow up in my face, I am suddenly stricken with a rash…
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The Humility Substitute

The Humility Substitute
We sat across the table from each other, sipping our coffee. He wasted no time. "Mike, the first time we met I would have told you I had perfect doctrine. I wouldn't have said it that way, but the truth is I thought my doctrine was perfect. For the past 47 years, I have been…
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Confronting my Sacred Violence

Confronting my Sacred Violence
As I continue to wrestle with my own violence, and the violence of my tribe, I am aware how I (we) often whitewash our violence with a smile, a bible verse or rationalize our aggression in the name of God (or God causes) as if the end somehow justifies the means. Violence, even sacred violence…
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