In Gennesaret

My daughter is in the bedroom watching a horror video game with her friend in Atlanta. A few things I find fascinating about this fact. 1)      There exists a genre called “Horror Video Games”. 2)      Video games are apparently now an online spectator sport. 3)      She is able to do these things in real time with a friend a thousand miles away. Technology . But #4 is the one I want to talk about today: 4)      She and her friend are choosing to watch something meant to be frightening. And enjoying it. When did being scared become something fun and desirable? I suppose it’s nothing new in civilization. For centuries, people have done risky and dangerous things for the thrill of it, I guess. But I don’t get it. It is not fun to be frightened . As I sit here listening to the dramatic screams coming from her computer, I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever found delight in fear. I remember the firs...

Oh, the Good Samaritan! We love that story, don’t we? This self-sacrificial, compassionate stranger who stops to help an injured man that the religious folk couldn’t be bothered with. We want to be that Samaritan – that wonderful, admirable human! But I think we lose sight of the fact that Jesus’ listeners were probably a bit horrified by this tale. They hated Samaritans. HATED them. And lest we get self-righteous about this, they felt like they were quite justified in hating them because the Samaritans were the heretics – the ones who twisted the religious systems of the Israelites and thought they had it right and the Jews had it wrong. (Pause a moment and consider who you look at in our world today feeling quite certain they have it all wrong.) The very idea that Jesus would use a SAMARITAN as a positive role model in one of his parables is absolutely astonishing. It would be like him telling us a story today where the bad guys were an obnoxious TV preacher ( oh, of course – he...

Have you asked Jesus into your heart? This isn’t a gospel presentation; it’s a question about verbiage. If you grew up in an evangelical church (or any church that does not baptize babies), I’m guessing there’s a good chance that it was explained to you as a matter of “asking Jesus into your heart”. Am I right? Particularly if you are at least a Millennial or older. But a recent podcast made me wonder about that language. They were making the valid point that young children are very literal; this description of the concept may not be very clear. One of the podcasters said she’d gotten a question from a kid about whether Jesus can taste the food she eats if he’s living in her heart. Cute, yes . . . but maybe a bit concerning. My kids told me that “asking Jesus into my heart” was the language they remember from their own particular decisions of faith (probably because they heard it from me and their dad). And they don’t remember being confused by it. But whether it’s confusing or n...

I don’t often find myself arguing with a “daily devotional” I’m reading. That’s probably because most people writing “daily devotionals” seem to stick to pretty general principles that all would agree with. The goal here is to lift our spirits and inspire us for a great day ahead. And last Saturday’s daily devotional was of that nature. It addressed a verse in Psalm 23 – the one about God preparing a table for us in the presence of our enemies. The author says that God is a place of refuge for us in difficult times (oh, yes). He says, “In his presence one can find comfort, cleansing, renewing, and peace” (amen). He says, “I never leave His presence disappointed, discouraged, or downhearted.” (Um . . . wait.) That statement stopped me short. I mean, it sounds good. It sounds like something that would get a big “Amen!” in a worship service. But then I really thought about it. Are you saying, sir, that when you spend time with the Father in prayer, all feelings of disappoint...

Because of the generosity of families at my school, I had a decent chunk of money to spend on myself for Christmas. So I started a list of things I needed. Top of the list was clothing – I’ve lost weight and most of my work slacks are falling off of me (which is a good problem to have, of course). Courtney, my fashion-forward friend who helps me not look stupid, told me where to shop, and I picked up some goodies. After that, though, I had a hard time thinking of what else I might want to spend this money on. At one point, I grabbed a shopping cart at Walmart and just started walking through aisles, looking for anything that might jump out at me. And nothing jumped. Which was weird.  I don’t shop much in stores anymore. Most of my purchases come from Amazon because it’s so easy . Also, the pandemic opened the door to curbside pickup for stuff I need to buy locally, and I’ve become a big fan. It's great to be able to just pull up in a parking spot and have someone bring my pur...

I haven’t blogged in a couple months. You don’t need to tell me if you noticed that or not. 😊 But now that I’ve called the fact to your attention, you might be wondering why. And that’s a valid question. But I’m not sure I have a good answer. At first, I just got very busy. We had a certification visit at my school, and being on the admin team, that meant I had a lot of responsibilities for the week. Then I was tired after that and gave myself permission to rest up. And then it was “Warrior Week” at school, our equivalent of Homecoming with all the craziness. And then was Thanksgiving with people visiting . . . and I got sick that week and took a while to recover (I was so stinkin’ tired ) . . . and then . . . oh, I don’t know . . . I just didn’t have anything to say. And frankly, that’s a dumb answer because in all honesty, how often do I have anything to say here? I mean, anything of real importance or significance? I’m mainly just dumping my brain onto my keyboard to keep...