Meet the Johnsons, a family of five recently profiled by The Washington Post. The Johnsons live in Culpepper, Va., and bring in $90,000 per year — a full 55% above the median household income for the town. Based on this alone, you might think mom and dad are prime candidates to retire early. Then again, the family has to pay the bills. All three daughters have a computer in their room, the family shares a laptop and three iPads, satellite TV is available on three flat-screens throughout the house, and all family members except the youngest have a cellphone. Their … Continue reading Want to Retire Early? Ditch the Middle-Class Mindset…

I am going to spend the next seven summer Sundays talking about one post from a fellow blogger. That blogger is Stephen Mattson. He is one of my favorite writers over at Red Letter Christians. He is a relatively young man who has wisdom way beyond his years. He is also able to express himself in plain and simple yet very effective words. I certainly admire him for that. The post I will be critiquing is entitled “7 Misconceptions about Christianity”. I believe these seven things are so endemic of what has happened to Christ’s church over my lifetime.  It … Continue reading Christianity is Political…

The New York Times took a look at the results for Bill O’Reilly’s show, which remains popular with overall audience of 2.1 million viewers. But in the key demographic, he averaged just 313,000 viewers, a small percentage of his overall pull. His show’s median viewer age is now 72.1, which is a high. That’s part of a trend. Fox News’s viewership is aging out of that key demographic, even as the overall median age of cable news viewers remains high SOURCE: Fox News’s Old Viewership Is Getting Even Older – Yahoo News. I’m sure that anyone who has read anything … Continue reading Fox News’s Old Viewership Is Getting Even Older

    The above graphic gives a pretty simple view of yin and yang.  The characteristics on the left side are Yang and the right side Yin. As indicated a healthy balance is required for a happy life. Too much of either Yin or Yang is toxic. I must admit that I have modified this graph in that I removed the words Masculine and Feminine and replace them with Yin and Yang. In the Asian culture Yang is identified as male characteristics and Yin as female. Things are changing in that part of the world but it is still a … Continue reading Yin and Yang – The Basic Charactistics….

The spokesman for South Korea’s defense ministry told reporters in Seoul on Monday, in an unusually confrontational comment, that their northern neighbor exists solely for the benefit of its strongman Kim Jong Un and is not a real country SOURCE:  South Korea Says North Korea ‘Must Disappear Soon’ | TIME.com. What is truly sad about Korea is how one dictator and his privileged, although wacky, son have prevented the reunification of Korea for so many years. I’m sure if somehow they could wrestle control of the country from this egotistical young man that Korea would go the way of Germany … Continue reading The Reunification of Korea….

So we’re going to start in 1941-’42, right in the middle of World War II. And the reason for that, you see a lot of the mixing here. Now, these dots that you see on the screen, they represent individual members of Congress and how they vote. Over on the blue side is more liberal, over on the right more conservative, and the higher up you go is the more orthodox they voted, whether conservative or liberal, and voted together as a party. So, you see a lot of people mixing and a lot going further down the line. But … Continue reading The Widening Political Divide….

A theology based on this fear seldom inspires great acts of compassion and service. When we live in constant fear of divine rejection, we focus all our attention on securing our survival. Sadly, this self-absorption only leads us further from love. Fear and love are incompatible. Fear indicates our distrust of the one who claims to love us. A child trembles when a parent threatens, “If you don’t behave, I’ll send you away.” A wife is terrorized when a husband warns, “If you leave me, I’ll kill you.” Human beings cower when God commands, “Serve me, or I’ll damn you … Continue reading Fear vs. Love….

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” Albert Einstein Continue reading Einstein Quotes

The concept of Yin/Yang originated in China thousands of years ago but the thoughts behind it are common to many other traditions. The concept is all about balance. Here are some examples: Black/White — There is very little in life that is black or white; everything is a shade of grey which of course is a combination of the two. Hot/Cold — Who wants to take a shower in either totally hot or totally cold water?  Maybe some teenagers need some cold showers once in a while but most of us prefer a combination of the two Everything/Nothing — It … Continue reading Yin, Yang And The USA…

Addiction is defined as being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming (especially alcohol or narcotic drugs). We all have addiction in on form or another.  Many of us are addicted to our daily dose of caffeine. Without it we just can’t seem to get our day started. Some are addicted to nicotine. Gladly that number seems to be decreasing and hopefully the lung cancer that results from it will also go down. But I think the number one addiction for many of us in the U.S. is violence. I don’t think we start … Continue reading Addiction…

I am kind of in a nostalgic mood lately. My wife has pulled out of storage several of my old record albums from the 1960s. The one on the top of the heap right now is Bob Dylan’s first, and I kind of think best, albums entitled “The Freewheeling Bob Dylan”.  About the only thing I spent much money on besides tuition payments during those years was record albums.  As I was looking over the song lists in the album one stuck to me and that is the title of this post. Here are some of the lyrics. I’m walkin’ … Continue reading Don’t Think Twice, Its All Right…

The governor still spoke to the group, and was asked publicly how he reconciles the death penalty with his faith, especially given the fact that less than 5% of Americans think Jesus would support execution. It was refreshing that he didn’t have a good answer. It made you think he might not sign the warrants, that he might come to the conclusion of other governors have — that no human being should have that much power over life and death. SOURCE:  Shane Claiborne: TN Death Row Invites Governor to Pray with Them | Red Letter Christians. I have always been … Continue reading Would Jesus Support Execution???

Lets continue with our study of Yin/Yang as it relates to the male/female balance within each of us. Here is a lengthy quote to start us off. I have underlined some of this quote to give it a personal emphasis. This balance of male and female is also very evident in Native American Indian culture where the earth is called ‘Mother earth’ and the sky ‘Father Sky’. The Indians were not alone. The ancient Greeks also believed in father sky, who they called Zeus, and mother earth who they called Demeter. The Celts, the Aztecs, the Mayans, the Egyptians and … Continue reading Yin/Yang The Balance….

“We are living in an age of ‘urge.’ We do nothing till somebody shoves us.” – Will Rogers, 25 February 1931 Some things never change. We still do practically nothing until someone shoves us. Lets face it, there are just too many of us who are so stricken with fear of change and isn’t change the name of the game lately? We let a few very vocal others do our talking for us so that all we need to say is “ditto”.  It takes someone or something to shove us to get us out of our static positions. One of … Continue reading Till Somebody Shoves Us….

At a special housing development in Oregon, families who adopt foster children live side by side with seniors who volunteer their time in exchange for affordable rent. The NewsHour’s Cat Wise reports how members of the intergenerational community find support and connection together. “We’re flourishing and evolving in this environment, and we’re growing big time. If you go to live in an apartment complex with a bunch of older people, for instance, people kind of wither away, and it’s really not right. Connections across the generations is critical, absolutely critical for aging well.” Demand for housing at Bridge Meadows remains … Continue reading Foster families share support with elders at Oregon housing community

As we all get older we sometimes yearn for the good old days. Those were the times when things were slower and life was less complicated.  Or were they??? Here is a quote from a book entitled “Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)” that tells us a little about our memories Memories are not buried somewhere in the brain, as if they were bones at an archeological site; nor can we uproot them, as if they were radishes; nor, when they are dug up, are they perfectly preserved. We do not remember everything that happens to us; we select … Continue reading Remembering The Good Old Days….

With this post I am starting a new Saturday thing called “In Search of America”. I actually intended to make this a separate blog but just got too lazy to keep that up. So I will be doing it here on a weekly basis. It will primarily be about places I have visited and my search to understand what made this country what is it today. Let me know how you like it. A mustard museum? Who would have guessed?  We recently spend a long weekend touring Madison Wisconsin and came across this oddity. It was fun to tour the … Continue reading National Mustard Museum…

As I promised in an earlier post I want to start a discussion about the concept of Yin and Yang.  I don’t want to bore you totally to death so I thought I would cover this topic only on Fridays for as long as it stays interesting. Yin/yang and Taoism started in the fourth century BC China. The symbol for this concept is shown to the right. Here is a little about it from Wikipedia. In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin-yang (simplified Chinese: 阴阳; traditional Chinese: 陰陽; pinyin: yīnyáng), which is often called “yin and yang”, is used to … Continue reading Yin and yang -The Basics

An interesting post from my Facebook feeds.  Click on the picture to learn more about it. Continue reading Seneca Village…

Most of you have probably heard of the “Seven Deadly Sins”. Lust Gluttony Greed Sloth Wrath Envy Pride Here is a little about their origins from Wikipedia: The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a classification of vices (part of Christian ethics) that has been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct Christians concerning fallen humanity’s tendency to sin. In the currently recognized version, the sins are usually given as wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. Each are a form of Idolatry-of-Self wherein the subjective reigns over the objective. … Continue reading Pride, Best Taken In Small Doses….

While I am in a political bent here at RJ’s Corner I thought I would tackle one final issue about my home State before I put this putrid topic back on the shelf! I am a Hoosier and in some regards proud of that fact. But when it comes to our politics I am embarrassed to proclaim my birthplace.  I am even more embarrassed when it comes to the politics involved with the health and wellness of many of my fellow Hoosiers. As shown by the image below Indiana of the last couple of decades at least is a very … Continue reading Indiana – The Sore Thumb Of The Midwest…

From my Facebook page… Continue reading Happy Birthday Soren …

President Barack Obama taught everyone a little lesson about racist Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy during the 2014 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Obama was touting the success of Olympic snowboarder Jamie Anderson, who was in attendance at the dinner, saying he hadn’t “seen someone pull a 180 that fast until Rand Paul disinvited that Nevada rancher from this dinner.” “As a general rule, things don’t end well if the sentence starts with, ‘Let me tell you something about the Negro,’” Obama said. “You don’t really need to know the rest of it, just a tip for you.” SOURCE:  Obama Teaches Us … Continue reading Obama Teaches Us All A Lesson About Cliven Bundy

The masculine side of God is something to be admired. But it is the feminine side that draws love out of me. It is this feminine side of God I find in Jesus that makes me want to sing duets with Him. When I think about the feminine in Him, I want to throw out my arms and be loved…. Society has brought me up to suppress the so-called feminine dimensions of my humanness. But when Jesus makes me whole, both sides of who I am meant to be will be fully realized. Then, and only then, will I be … Continue reading Embracing the ‘Feminine Side’ of God…

This is a sincere question for church leaders out there. When you get a truly on-fire Christian who wants to get busy working in their community, using their gifts, and making a difference, what do you do with them? So many people assume it is the “backsliding,” “the lukewarm,” or the “disengaged” who leave church or “church hop” but I have often found the opposite. I have seen many passionate and convicted Christians who find they just have no place their church. What About Those of Us Tired of Spectating Church service is largely a spectator activity. What about those … Continue reading Do Active Christians Have a Place In Your Church?

Inequality is the result of political forces as much as of economic ones. In a modern economy government sets and enforces the rules of the game—what is fair competition, and what actions are deemed anticompetitive and illegal, who gets what in the event of bankruptcy, when a debtor can’t pay all that he owes, what are fraudulent practices and forbidden. Government also gives away resources (both openly and less transparently) and, through taxes and social expenditures, modifies the distribution of income that emerges from the market, shaped as it is by technology and politics. The Price of Inequality: How Today’s … Continue reading Inequality…

I guess it is officially Spring now as all the country yard flowers and in full bloom. Now I know all you city slickers out there call my flowers as shown here weeds but you got to get over that idea. ;)  God just didn’t intend that only one variety of his creation was to appear on your front yard.  But I do have to admit that my wife gets on me from time to time about how our lawn seems to have everything but grass growing on it. Living in the country means putting up with all the critters … Continue reading Not Your City Slicker Lawn…

Come gather ’round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You’ll be drenched to the bone If your time to you is worth savin’ Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin’ Come writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won’t come again And don’t speak too soon For the wheel’s still in spin And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’ For the loser now will be later to win For … Continue reading The Times They Are A Changing….

We are a generation that is able to pick and choose the best ideas and aspects from many different groups and systems and embrace them in our own lives and thinking. And this has never been a possibility for any other generation in the history of humankind. This does make us a generally skeptical generation. We don’t just drink the Kool Aid. That doesn’t mean we lack commitment to a community, but it does mean millennial communities will look radically different than those of previous generations. This doesn’t mean millennials are against structure, but rather against structures that dictate how … Continue reading Millennials: Anti-Social, Selfish, & Afraid?

We have made of Christianity a complicated, contradictory amalgamation of fear, fantasy, patriotism, self-justification and self-congratulations that would baffle anyone who knew the dusty Galilean founder. We can’t decide (or agree) if ‘being a Christian’ is something we do or have or believe. Most of us can’t even explain or define it to ourselves. But most of us do have the certainty that our religion is better than that other religion. And for many of us, our deepest faith is not in how true our faith is but in how false the other faith must be…. We are like the … Continue reading Being A Christian…

Home-grown bullies More than half of Americans believe incivility in our society is on the rise and expected to worsen in coming years, according to Weber Shandwick’s 2011 annual survey on incivility. The climate of unbridled rudeness is evident in politics, pop culture, music, media, big business, work, schools, and now, the internet – just about all aspects of our culture. And incivility breeds bullies. Among those surveyed, 65% believed overall incivility worsened with the recent financial crisis and recession. But, the seeds of incivility were sown in American history since before the Salem Witch Trials. American bullying is a … Continue reading Anatomy of a bully