To all my nonbelieving, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends: I feel like I should begin with a confession. I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so little to show with our lives. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity. SOURCE: … Continue reading A Good Way To Finish Off the Year…
2013 will soon be another year that was… It’s time to sit back and reflect some on how this year developed and to look a little to what next year might be. Personally This was a year that looked pretty much like the last handful or so. Nothing spectacular but also nothing devestating. Fortunately, except for some pretty serious Ā (read expensive) dental work there were … Continue reading Reflections on Another Year….
As Wall Street’s best year in more than 15 draws to a close, few are expecting a repeat performance in 2014, though traders have plenty of reasons to feel optimistic. SOURCE:Ā Big year ends with Wall Street hopeful for 2014: Fidelity. I have a fair share of stocks in my retirement portfolio and have seen them go up quite a bit this year. It almost reminds … Continue reading Big year ends with Wall Street hopeful for 2014
Jesus clearly told us again and again to love your fellow-man. As a matter of fact he said all the commandments and previous prophets melted down to loving God and loving each other. Nothing else is nearly as important. Why do we find it so hard to even begin to live up to that command. For so many of us, particularly those in the U.S. … Continue reading Fear Your Fellow Man….
2)Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Itās Not a Sin to Be Poor In a culture obsessed with consumerism, money is seen as the ultimate form of power and success, but itās not a sin to be poor. For Christians, especially middle-class Westernized believers, itās easy to assume the worst of the poor. We blame them for not working, being lazy, having drug addictions, making poor choices, and not trying … Continue reading Helping The Poor – Reason 2
For those of you young folks out there that had little or no history lessons in school LBJ is Lyndon Bains Johnson who was president of the US after Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. Ā LBJ started Medicare and the “Great Society”. He was also a primary player in the Civil Rights of that era. Ā He managed to get several different and ambitious social agendas accomplished … Continue reading LBJ and Obama….
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis said in the first peace message of his pontificate that huge salaries and bonuses are symptoms of an economy based on greed and inequality and called again for nations to narrow the wealth gap. In his message for the Roman Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace, marked around the world on January 1, he also called for sharing of … Continue reading Pope attacks mega-salaries and wealth gap…
I know there are those out there who despise the phrase “Happy Holidays”! They say the phrase takes away the Christian meaning of Christmas. Ā I am just not one of those. I don’t have any trouble recognizing that other faith traditions, and even those without any strong faith, also celebrate events this time of year. I say the more the merrier…. Since it has been … Continue reading Happy Holidays…
āArea 10 basically serves clients who, for whatever reason, are really struggling to age successfully or live successfully in their homes. We provide them with the support and service they need in order to live comfortable and safe lives at home,ā she began. āWe serve older adults and people with disabilities in Owen County, our youngest client is six and our oldest client in Owen … Continue reading Agency on Aging….
For all you Baby Boomers out there be sure to tune into the next episode of American Experience entitled 1964. See a You-Tube preview here. It airs on January 14 on most PBS stations. Continue reading For All You Baby Boomers….
1)Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Jesus Calls Us to Help the Poor Jesus wants us to help the poorāwithout qualifications! He doesnāt command us to help just the responsible poor, the Christian poor, the likeable poor, the sober poor, or the hardworking poor, He calls us to love and help everyoneāno matter what! I tās amazing how weāre quick to recognize that God loves us unequivocally, that His grace … Continue reading Helping The Poor – Reason 1
Given all the snow, ice, and sub-freezing temperatures lately it is hard to get my mind around today being the first day of winter! Ā Was all that really Fall?? Ā I kind of think it has something to do with global warming screwing up all the atmospheric condition of the world. But, I am not a climatologist so what do I know? I always have mixed … Continue reading Today Winter Begins……
In psychology and logic, rationalization (also known as making excuses) is a defense mechanism in which perceived controversial behaviors or feelings are logically justified and explained in a rational or logical manner in order to avoid any true explanation, and are made consciously tolerable ā or even admirable and superior ā by plausible means. Rationalization encourages irrational or unacceptable behavior, motives, or feelings and often … Continue reading Rationalization (making excuses) ….
“There is one rule that works in every calamity. Be it pestilence, war or famine, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” – Will Rogers, 1 November 1929 Notice this quote was only a couple of days after the giant stock market crash starting the Great Depression. That day wiped out a lot of “paper” fortunes and a lot of real jobs. It … Continue reading The Rich Get Richer….
Baby, Iām yours And Iāll be yours until the stars fall from the sky, Yours, until the rivers all run dry In other words, until I die Baby, Iām yours And Iāll be yours until the sun no longer shines, Yours, until the poets run out of rhyme In other words, until the end of time Iām gonna stay right here by your side, Do … Continue reading Baby I’m Yours……
Thank you Pope Francis for saying things that others just don’t have to courage to say…. Continue reading Nothing For The Poor…
A slew of reports over the last two weeks detailing cases of U.S. armed drones killing civilians signaled a new wave of outrage over the unregulated use of drones by the U.S. There was one report from the United Nations, another from Human Rights Watch, and one from Amnesty International. The uproarāand the sense that Washington has done little to make more transparent its use … Continue reading The Campaign to Kill Killer Robots Gains Steam…
Being highly influenced by the Quaker faith I throughly believe in the “light of God in every person”. No one’s life should be considered less than other. We need to quit calling taking innocent lives as “collateral damage” and call it what it is….. Continue reading Some Lives Matter Less Than Others…..
I guess I am of that rare breed who actually gets a weekly hard-copy magazine. That magazine isĀ Time. Each weekly issue rests on my bedside stand and is read nightly until completed. I think maybe Time is the only weekly magazine left with my political slant. There is just something about actually holding the info in my hands that still appeals to me. Now don’t … Continue reading Still Clinging To My Hard Copy Magazines….
As she is currently in my Inspiration Hall of Fame I must admit that Elizabeth Warren inspires me. She seems to really care about all the people instead of just the biggest donors. She says things that need to be said but are just too bold for many to say. I see where the Tyco CEO who was convicted of looting billions from his … Continue reading Fundamentally Wrong…
Having only a high school degree means a future of $15 bucks an hour or below. But only a quarter of students who enter community colleges actually graduate (the rates are only slightly better at 4 year schools). Meanwhile, many of them that do graduate have skills that arenāt suited to the jobs theyāll actually need. Weāre graduating too many sports marketing experts, and not … Continue reading 6-Year High Schools….
For this post I thought I would focus on a cultural topic. Let’s face it none of us are totally comfortable with change. Some of us see it as a nuisance, some as a threat, and fortunately many of us see it as an opportunity. Since we live in an ever-changing world how we face change often determines the root level of happiness in our … Continue reading Getting Shocked Out Of Your Comfort Zone.
To some the word diversity is a threatening one but I hope most of us realize that as a nation and even a world diversity is to be celebrated. It means that we are different from each other. It means that we have different approaches and perspectives to life. It means that it is not a boring vanilla world but a multi-colored rainbow. š To … Continue reading Diversity Is More Than Race….
I have not looked at any politics of the day for more than a week now. I have even reconfigured my daily internet reading to remove politics as a point of focus.Ā That alone has helped to significantly brighten my general attitude toward daily living. Ā To complete this refocus I have decided to take the blog in a slightly different direction. I will no longer be … Continue reading A Change In Direction…
We must recognize that Jesusā life and teachings have no resemblance to the lifestyles we have set for ourselves. So we can go on using his name and ignoring his message . . . or we could start calling ourselves something different . . . or we could practice squeezing ourselves through the eye of a needle . . . or we could do the … Continue reading Heeding His Call….
Jesus Avoided Theological Certainty Within the New Testament, the people Jesus seemingly condemns the strongest ā and most frequently ā are the ones who have the greatest amount of theological certainty ā the Pharisees. The spiritual leaders, the most prestigious religious institutions of the their day, the ones who were the most confident, the most sure and vocal about theology, were flat our wrong ā … Continue reading Theological Certainty…..
“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” Go in peace, Nelson Mandela Continue reading Go In Peace…
I seem to be busy with other things right now so will see you later. I am currently off doing research for my new blogĀ In Search Of America. Some call it vacation, I call it research š Continue reading Busy Right Now….
I just needed permission to say ENOUGH! ā ENOUGH to the frenzied rush to buy stuff for people who already have everything.āEnough to the myth that happiness must be purchased. Enough to an economy that is awarding CEOs salaries 500 times that of their workers and still manages to seduce people in poverty and wealth alike to give more money to these predatorial corporations. Enough … Continue reading Buy Nothing Day – Enough is Enough…
I am getting worn down by all this dark political stuff around lately. It just never seems to end. I simply can’t fathom how almost half of us have so little empathy for those on the margins of our society. Why do they so fervently want to take food out of their mouths and block them from getting affordable healthcare? It seems that some will … Continue reading Wearing Me Down….
What Jesus calls us to do as followers is to create a world in which family is not a matter of blood, but of spirit. This more expansive view of family sounds lovely in theory, but is absolutely radical in practice.Ā SOURCE: Ā The Underground Church: Reclaiming the Subversive Way of Jesus (Meyers, Robin) Continue reading Not A Matter Of Blood, But Of Spirit…
RJ's Corner 