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French Fries
I like to keep a clean office. There’s something about walking in to the place where you work knowing where things will be and not having to crawl over piles of paper to find what you need. One way a person can figure out my stress level is to look at the state of my…
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Dropping the Jalapeno Ranch
The other day I started a new class at my church and put together a Vision Dinner. I wanted it to be a good dinner and thus ordered Chuy’s Mexican Food along with their famous Jalapeno Ranch. I was in a hurry and was late, but realized on my way back to the church that…
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Anchors
Sometimes in ministry I get the question about the chaos that Christians face. In the examples I’m thinking about, the person wonders if sin that they’ve committed has caused God to bring judgment down upon them. They then wonder at the passage that says there’s now “no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus,”…
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Hotels and Swamps
Ever visit a swamp? There’s kind of a creepy quality to it. While everything is green and vibrant, there can be a kind of stillness that unsettles. It’s not particularly the stillness or the quiet, but rather the fact that with all the green around we know there’s something living under that water, and that…
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Reflect
As we near the end of the summer, I wondered at a certain word: Reflect. In particular the context of this question came from me challenging my staff from Psalm 90:12: “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” It was a reminder to consider the great opportunities…
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Hey There Buddy
In the midst of several difficult posts, I felt like it might be a good thing to shine a little positivity. One of my favorite online video makers is a channel that goes by the name Old Time Hawkey. In the videos, a man who goes by Fritz shows recipes cooked over a campfire in…
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Ministerial Detoxing
Sometimes the vulnerability hurts as a minister. Recently going to a doctor’s appointment, I learned much to my chagrin that LDL cholesterol level was at 397, which is double what a healthy number should be. With family history of issues in particular with LDL cholesterol, I’ve had to make some pretty stark and immediate changes,…
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“I Missed the Moment”
“I missed the moment.” Currently I’m listening to the book Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky. I generally love the craziness that expresses itself through Russian writing, and especially how writers like Dostoevsky weave philosophy, spirituality, and creative thinking into their stories. The above quote comes from a passage where a demon (or the devil…book’s not very…
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Sometimes Backstage is the Darkest
Charles Spurgeon wrote in his Lectures to His Students an entire session on something he called the Minister’s “Fainting Fits.” It occupies the 11th lecture. I paused when I read that, thinking, “What does that mean?” While Spurgeon was partly referring to a lack of physical strength and weakness, in a greater fashion “fainting fits”…
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Pray for Rain
About a decade ago, there was an interesting phenomenon happening in Austin. We had been locked in a terrible drought and our local reservoirs were approaching and sometimes below 30%. There were widespread brushfires that afflicted Central Texas communities. Businesses near lake areas were shuttering. All in all, not a great time. The phenomenon that…
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