Aside – An Immoral Document…

Just a quick aside to give you some words from a Sojourners email I recently received. We must all take to heart the words of Jesus in this matter. It shames me that this discussion is even necessary in our country: We have a genuine hope for a long term bipartisan solution and, in particular, a moral non-partisan commitment to protect the poor and vulnerable from being expendable in these fiscal debates. We should also say that Democratic budgets have not been models of fiscal responsibility and social justice either. But what the House budget is calling for is morally … Continue reading Aside – An Immoral Document…

Insurers like that health law ruling sets their path – USATODAY.com

Source: Insurers like that health law ruling sets their path – USATODAY.com. Companies are spending hundreds of millions on technology already to cut administrative costs, he said. Instead of buying individual health policies through agents who take up to 10% of the policy’s cost in commissions, consumers will buy coverage online or on the phone, he said, to help meet the law’s requirement that insurers spend 80% of premiums on health-care services. This is an article about how the private insurers are trying to cope with the new healthcare laws recently found to be constitutional by the Supreme court. One of … Continue reading Insurers like that health law ruling sets their path – USATODAY.com

A Small Closure….

We have filled a small corner of our mosaic of church history so I will soon be moving on to discuss some of the early theologians of the church. I am certainly not done talking about the ordinary people who made up the beginnings of the church but I wanted to try to have a small closure for now.  I couldn’t find a better quote about that than this one from Harvey Cox in The Future of Faith: In the last few decades however, all these assumptions have proven erroneous. The following are now evident. First, there never was a … Continue reading A Small Closure….

When The Boss Is Looking….

We stick to the old American principle of only working when the boss is looking. – April 8, 1933  Will Rogers I’m sure this is as true today and maybe more so that it was in Will’s day only the techniques of not getting caught has changed. I read a statistic somewhere that said that up to 40% of a desk jockey’s time at the office now days is spent cruising the Internet, posting on Facebook, or ordering personal items on-line. When I retired twelve years ago I was surrounded by three computers all connected to the Internet but I … Continue reading When The Boss Is Looking….

A Wrong-Headed Idea…

Source: States explore new ways to tax motorists for road repair – USATODAY.com. States are looking for new ways of taxing motorists as they seek to pay for highway and bridge repair and improvements without relying on the per-gallon gasoline tax widely viewed as all but obsolete. Having to import oil from the Middle East is the primary reason so many of our kids die in our frequent foreign wars. Not giving those who don’t use as much oil as others some break is wrong-headed idea in my mind.  We need to tax the gas hogs on the road not the … Continue reading A Wrong-Headed Idea…

Early Christian Practices….

TO start this post here is a quote from Robin Myers book entitled The Underground Church – Reclaiming the Subversive Way of Jesus. Although Western Christianity would eventually be defined as a belief system about God, throughout its first five centuries people understood it primarily as spiritual practices that offered a meaningful way of life in this world not as a neat set of doctrines, an esoteric belief, or the promise of heaven. By practicing Jesus teachings, followers of the way discovered that their lives were made better on a practical spiritual level. Given for the past 1500 years or so, or at … Continue reading Early Christian Practices….

The One Thing a Man Can Do Better Than a Woman…..

The one thing a man can do better than a woman is to grow a beard  – John Steinbeck (Travels with Charley) I am not used to pulling quotes from my hero John Steinbeck. That duty usually fall to my other hero Will Rogers. But when I came across this quote in Steinbeck’s book Travels with Charley recently I knew I had to include it here. My wife, like most of you guys out there already know, thoroughly believe that she can do absolutely everything better than I can. She has made a life out of constantly bringing up my … Continue reading The One Thing a Man Can Do Better Than a Woman…..

Act Your Age!!!!

I don’t know how many times I have heard the title of this post. I defiantly don’t want people putting me in a pre-defined box! I guess that makes me ornery but I really don’t care. When someone says act your age they are really saying lie back and do what you are supposed to do. What a bummer man….   Besides that just which age do you want me to act. In my mind I feel like I am thirty-something but with the wisdom of a sixty-something. Yeah, my body seems to constantly remind me that it is older than … Continue reading Act Your Age!!!!

About Your Doctor…..

TODAY Health – Diet, Fitness and Wellness Blog | TODAY.com Blogs – Doctors behaving badly: 7 types to watch out for. This is a very interesting article about seven things you should watch out for in the doctor that is treating you. It isn’t often that we get this type of “insider” information about the medical establishments.  I always get a kick out of the way they say they “practice medicine”. That term is meant to infer that they don’t always get it right; they are still practicing. I don’t know about you but I certainly hope the doctor who … Continue reading About Your Doctor…..

Let the Democrats Emulate the Repbulicans

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that is really the case then I say let the Democrats emulate the Republicans in their do-nothing attitude. There has been talk about the Senate Democrats letting the all the Bush tax cuts expire and forcing the ten-percent reduction in the military budgets by doing nothing. Will the Republicans be flattered by this imitation of their strategy in congress? I kind of doubt it. :) But at least it would result in some restructuring of our debt increases. Will it be good for the jobs picture? It can’t be … Continue reading Let the Democrats Emulate the Repbulicans

Were the Early Christians Unblemished??

I want to give you a quick answer up front to the question posed in the title above.  The answer is absolutely not. Let’s use the following quote from Harvey Cox in his book the Future of Faith as a starting point for this post. Recent discoveries about the first three centuries after the crucifixion of Jesus shed a bright new light on a series of old enigmas. They help clarify how Christianity deteriorated from a movement generated by faith and hope into a religious empire demarcated by prescribed doctrines and ruled by a priestly elite. They trace how a loose … Continue reading Were the Early Christians Unblemished??

Not Only The Next Generation….

via Ron Paul ‘Revolution’ strikes at GOP state parties – First Read. “Look at the next generation,” Paul said on MSNBC. “I mean, there is so much excitement out there. The big deal is that the next generation are sick and tired of what they’re getting and they’re looking for something.  And what we’re offering seems to appeal to the young people.” I guess anything would be an improvement over what we have now so I salute the folks who are leading this charge to change the Republican Party. The quote above says that the next generation is sick and tired … Continue reading Not Only The Next Generation….

On-The-Road Day 11 — Calling It Quits….

Here we are ending day eleven of our trip heading home. The were a few sites I had picked for visits today but my wife just isn’t feeling up to it. She has really not done well this entire trip.  Maybe the elevation along with all her many usual ailments was too much for her. So we called it quits this morning. Maybe a future trip back to Denver to see some of the sites but that is not likely. Since all we will be doing from here out is interstate driving I will end our 0n-the-road reports here with … Continue reading On-The-Road Day 11 — Calling It Quits….

Citizens as Foreigners…

Let’s start this post with a long quote from A People’s History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story by Diana Butler Bass: The early Christian text (from the second or third century) known as the Epistle to Diognetus explains that Christianity is neither an ethnicity nor earthly citizenship but a way of life that is somehow at odds with the societies in which the faithful reside. Christians may look like everyone else, but their actions—including practices of hospitality, charity, and nonviolence—make them different: For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the … Continue reading Citizens as Foreigners…

Emergency NRA Board Meeting…

Here I am heading toward Denver in a few minutes so the most recent gun slaughter is on my mind. I know President Obama will also be heading for Denver. I selfishly hope he doesn’t hold up my travels.  It just amazes me that we in the U.S.  so quickly forget all these types of shootings and there have been so many of them in recent years.  Of course we have many more guns per capita than any other country in the world so it should not be surprising that this occurs on such a frequent basis. We are also … Continue reading Emergency NRA Board Meeting…

On-The-Road Day 10 Canyonlands National Park

When we left Mesa Verde yesterday we headed northwest into Utah to visit Canyonlands National Park.  Canyonland is a very different place but also much like the Grand Canyon in its majesty. Here are some pictures: Have to have one last picture of Mesa Verde that I took just the evening before we left. It is a sun drenched view of the Cliff Palace. I will dream of that place in the days and years ahead. Here are a couple from the Canyonlands: Today we head north to catch I70 east to Denver. We will be visiting a new museum … Continue reading On-The-Road Day 10 Canyonlands National Park

My Travels….

As I mentioned a few posts ago I somehow got myself into an extended FaceBook dialog with a friend about politics. It surprised me that he seems to hate our current president with such a venom that it scared me. I had never seen that side of him before. After an extended comment/counter-comment it shook some of the peacefulness from my current environment. I had trouble sleeping that night and even the next morning his hateful words lingered in my mind. At the end of all those posts it seemed like two one-sided conversation instead of a single thread. There … Continue reading My Travels….

On-The-Road Day 8 –Thoughts about Mesa Verde

Today is a somewhat leisurely day for us. It is our last day at Mesa Verde so I thought I would give you an evaluation of our time here.   This has been one of my favorite vacations for quite a while. Five days in one spot is a record for me. We are usually in the  different-hotel-a-day mode. Being without a TV for all this time has proved to be a boon. It is amazing how creative I have been while I have been here. Without the TV zombie things come to me frequently and if I hurry and … Continue reading On-The-Road Day 8 –Thoughts about Mesa Verde

On-The_Road Day 7 –Working 9 til 5…

For the last hundred years or more the average person went to work for a given number of hours and then went home to his family. He was paid for his efforts and used that money to provide food and shelter. The number of hours demanded for a day’s work has varied over the years but the idea of working for someone else has remained a constant. We tend to think that this is a normal kind of thing. But for many in history that was really not the case. The ancient ruins here at Mesa Verde got me to … Continue reading On-The_Road Day 7 –Working 9 til 5…

Nonviolence – Absolute Pacifism

Let’s start out this post with another quote from A People’s History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story  by  Diana Butler Bass. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian, and Origen all specifically condemned participation in war. “The Christian fathers of the first three centuries,” states theologian Lisa Sowle Cahill, “were generally adamant that discipleship requires close adherence to the nonviolent and countercultural example of Jesus’s own life and his sayings about the nature of the kingdom.” It is clear from the early Christian sources that for the first three hundred years or so the People of the Way were … Continue reading Nonviolence – Absolute Pacifism