Faith

Category

Molly and the Garden of Eden

MOLLY AND THE GARDEN OF EDEN

  • November 18, 2023
  • /
  • Faith

Deena and I have a dog named Molly.  Molly is the quintessential Golden Retriever.  She is a happy-go-lucky dog who loves life, people and other dogs.  She has a separation anxiety when we’re not around, even as some people have when they are alone and afraid. Molly is smart, affectionate, curious, and playful. Watching her zoom around our backyard is very entertaining to us. It’s like she is back in the days when everything was new, back in Eden. She is a good dog,...

The Keys to the Kingdom

THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM

  • November 9, 2023
  • /
  • Faith

Keys are items or tools that are very important in life.  They are designed to either grant or deny people access to a special place.  For example, a safety deposit box in a bank comes with keys, without which you might be denied access, even with proper identification.  House keys allow only certain people (generally family members) access to where you live.  We lock our cars to prevent them from being stolen by strangers. But what about special keys; keys to the Kingdom of...

Via appia in Italy. The breadcrumbs trail in Romans

THE BREADCRUMB TRAIL IN ROMANS

The featured photo in this post is a famous road in Italy called the Via Appia or sometimes the Appia Antica. The road you see in the photo is the same as it looked when Caesar rode on it. In fact, the road was built (in 312 B.C.) by Roman civil engineers before Caesar’s grandfather was even born. It ran from Rome 162 miles (261 km) to Tarentum (now Taranto.) The flagstones in the photo were carefully chosen and placed by...

Your spiritual needs as you get older

YOUR SPIRITUAL NEEDS AS YOU GET OLDER

Early this morning well before sunrise, I had a period of sleeplessness. I had time to reflect on how I have been feeling, on upcoming appointments with my cardiologist, my urological oncologist, podiatrist, physical therapist and so on. I should mention that I’m six months beyond my seventy-fourth birthday. Or, as Jack Benny might have said, “I just celebrated the fortieth anniversary of my thirty-fourth birthday.” This post will examine your spiriual needs as you get older. Knowing when you...

Broken

BROKEN

  • August 24, 2023
  • /
  • Faith

People today behave differently about things than people in the past.  In fact, many words that were familiar only a century ago are a mystery to people today.  Back in the days of the Great Depression, and the years before and after, mothers used to “darn” socks and sweaters.  That meant closing holes in the sock or sweater with a needle and threat.  I remember iron-on patches for the knees of boys’ jeans because the child would wear out the fabric playing.  Tires on a...

Oceans between us

OCEANS BETWEEN US

I like many different forms of music. I enjoy light rap, pop, easy listening, some country, some jazz and a bit of opera, even. But fundamentally, I like rock and roll; U2, the Boss, REM, Journey, Loverboy, Bryan Adams and of course, Bon Jovi. One of my favorite rock bands years ago was Survivor.  They just knew how to rock out.  This was maybe the only group where I liked every single song they did.  They had one song in particular called “Oceans”...

What Would Jesus Do?

WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?

These are difficult times for our nation, for many reasons.  We know this from public opinion polling, from the lyrics of recent country music songs, from the angst, anger and confusion in people’s eyes.  We know this from the several civil and criminal indictments that have been filed against the previous president. We are inudated with choices, but what would Jesus do? In the worst of times, people will sometimes, perhaps wisely challenge their assumptions.  “What went wrong” they may ask?  People, patriots all...

Plato's Cave

PLATO’S CAVE

In Book VII of Plato’s famous work Republic (written 375 BC), Plato speaks of an allegory to his older brother Glaucon, and the allegory is known today as Plato’s Cave. One purpose of the exercise is to show the difference between what perceived reality is and how it differes from true reality. It also examines the role of the philosopher in all of this. Plato was well-respected by the early (apostolic) church fathers. We call the first generation of Christian...

Saul's conversion. Mysticism and faith.

MYSTICISM AND FAITH

I am currently writing a post on Jesus for the sake of my Jewish friends, and I came across musician Paul Simon’s latest work and how this project was suggested to him in a dream1 he had several years ago, with bits and pieces revealed to him over the following years. After reading several interviews about his approach to producing this album “Seven Psalms,” I also read accounts from him about how he processes his work and writes his songs...

Life in the Spirit

LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

Most people in the world are familiar with fish.  We learn about fish and aquatic life in school and many of us eat fish as part of our diet.  Some people raise fish as a hobby.  Others actually fish, themselves, either on lakes, ponds or in rivers or in the ocean, as several of Jesus’ disciples did over two thousand years ago and even other communities two thousand years before that.  Probably all of us know that with the exception of three or four species...

Verified by MonsterInsights