Timeless Distilled Theology

Today in the late afternoon after being indoors focusing on mentally draining tasks and absorbed in backburner melancholies of sorts, I just had to get outside for my daily dose of that which is good for my soul. With so many outdoor tasks calling to me in the autumn as preparations for winter hasten, I found myself gravitating toward going into my small back pasture area to continue picking up black walnuts and shagbark hickories. I suppose my older son’s...

The Secret ‘O Life and Enjoying the Passage of Time

I’m not so sure that I’m enjoying the passage of time lately. There is a song by James Taylor I first heard about twenty years ago which I quite enjoyed. It had such an easy-going and visionary feel to it…and at thirty-eight years old and having not yet reached that over-the-hill pinnacle of life, I could listen to this with a somewhat contemplative-but-all-is-right-in-my-world-pretty-much feel. My oldest son was around twelve and my youngest around seven at that time. Life was...

The Art of Aloneness

The sense of being alone is far too common in this world.  Some of the most obvious reasons are the widow, the orphan, the misfits, the divorced, and yes, the unhappily married…just to name a few. I imagine the ways each person who finds themselves in alone places either regularly or from time to time are as unique as the person.  There is a quotation I’ve liked that came from James Taylor in one of his documentary interviews: ​ “To me, very...

Jesus, Our Mediator

Our relationship with Jesus is the most personal and precious and open and vulnerable relationship we can imagine and cultivate.  In my view, it is one where there are no rules.  No right or wrong way to talk to Him and with Him.Because we can trust that the gentlest of hands – His hands – will sift through the wheat and the chaff of our expressions – keeping and especially acting upon what He knows to be good, right and...