It’s the time of year when students receive their long-sought sheepskin.  Yes, diplomas (Greek for “folded paper”) were originally made from sheepskins since Carthage, known for making fine paper, had fallen to Rome.  (How many graduates know this!)   Perhaps you can still hear the plodding pulse of Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance” as your class assembled for one last time.  Never again would this group gather in the same number.  Life was about to scatter you in many unknown directions.   Curiously, “pomp” is rarely used without adding “and circumstance.” It refers to a splendid display or public event.  Circumstance is a fact connected to a situation.  So, graduation is a splendid event.   How has your life unfolded in relation to the dreams you had on graduation day?  What’s turned out better than you ever anticipated?  Can you take credit for it?  Was it just “luck?”  Were you simply at the right place at the right time?  Or have you sensed an unseen Hand guiding the facts connected to your situation?’  Could that Hand belong to One who has your very best interest at heart?  Are you at a point where you can acknowledge whose Hand it is?   Could it be the hand of the One who, like a perfect lamb, was sacrificed on a Roman cross to save your skin?  Yes, all we like sheep have wandered off.  Maybe it’s time to scurry back for that big, very public class reunion when absolutely all will attend.    No more Grade Point Averages on that graduation day..  Just Pass or Fail. Posted May 5, 2012

All England was enamored with the mind of London-born Gilbert Keith Chesterton.  Until his death in 1936 Britishers were treated to his poetry, public speaking, fiction, plays and newspaper columns. One of G.K.’s most intriguing sayings is “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought …” Does this happen to you?  That pesky, adult noisemaker on your nightstand rattles your early morning reverie. In slow-mo you unfold to rise and face another day.  You split the curtains with a flourish, gaze out at dawn’s first light and gush, “Good morning, God!” Or do you drag your sleep-deprived frame to the sink, pry open your sticky eyelids, take one gander at your fuzzy reflection and moan, “Good God, it’s morning.” Someone has just kept you safe and alive overnight and is on the verge of gifting you with enough heartbeats and breaths to live another twenty-four.  Maybe a word of thanks is in order. How many “thank you’s” can you give away today?  They’re free but so highly valued. For the gift of your time to read and ponder this, thank you.  Posted April 18, 2012

You’re preparing for an important appointment. You know the one. What can you do to make it a win-win? My friend Bob Tiede, who heads up leadership training worldwide for Campus Crusade, believes you’ll do much better by asking profound questions than by dumping all of your profound wisdom. These are the questions: 1. What’s working really well for you? 2. What isn’t? 3. Where are you stuck? 4. What needs to change? When you think about, those same questions could be very helpful in talking to your family members or anyone else you care about. Why, you could even ask them about one’s spiritual life, couldn’t you? Thanks, Bob. Posted March 21, 2012

“Easy come, easy go” cannot be said of our stay on this planet.  Worldwide we number more than 7 billion.  23 million newbies arrive every year.  That’s two every three seconds.  At the other end of life 10 million will die this year. That’s one family member, friend, neighbor, co-worker or stranger leaving us every three seconds. We go to great lengths to prepare for a newborn.  Why do we do so little to prepare for death?  Here’s the real question:  “What good would it do to get everything you want and lose the real you?  What could you ever trade your soul for?” Posted March 5, 2012

Has this year come into sharp focus for you by now? If so, you’re in for a less stressful year. Every aspect of your future fits into one of eight folders. Take the next five minutes to write, in a word or phrase, what you believe is why you’re here on earth; that’s your “Life Purpose.” Then write alongside each of these eight folder names one thing you can do -- by the end of this year – to fulfill your Life Purpose. MY LIFE PURPOSE: FAMILY: FINANCIAL: PHYSICAL: PROFESSIONAL: PERSONAL: MENTAL: SOCIAL: SPIRITUAL: Reputedly the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, cautioned,”Mortals make elaborate plans, but God has the last word.” Would you like to reconsider what you’ve written above in light of Who has the last word? Posted February 8, 2012

What word best describes the world’s mood as we enter 2012?  How about …..UNCERTAINTY? Uncertainty is the absence of…..duh….certainty. How do you determine what’s true and what isn’t? • Pragmatism (It’s right if it works.)  • Pluralism (There’s no single, right answer.)  • Existentialism (You determine what’s right for you.) • Relativism (Truth varies.) • Syncretism (Truth comes from merging beliefs.) • Rationalism (Man’s reason is the supreme authority.) • Empiricism (Truth is arrived at via sensual experience.) • Atheism (There is no God.) • Agnosticism (Ultimate knowledge can’t be attained.) When it comes to defining ultimate truth, what matters is not how you feel; it’s what you know.  This line is from an ancient book of songs: “Be still and know that I am God.” Do we pause long enough to discover Truth?  What do you know for sure? Posted January 12, 2012

Raise your hand if you’d like to have a fresh start now and then. You know, turn over a new leaf, begin with a clean slate, be given a Mulligan.    A new year presents such an opportunity, doesn’t it?  We’re not talking about that disappointing game of self-delusion called “Resolutions.” Been there, wore out the tee shirt. Instead, how good would it feel to announce to yourself, with conviction and faith, “It’s a whole new ballgame!”   If you could eliminate three things (memories, habits, relationships, whatever) from your world right now, what would they be?  If you could add three things to your life, what are they?   We’re told in the Bible that one day, perhaps soon, God’s Son, Jesus Christ, will reign as King of all kings over a brand new earth, saying, “Look, I make everything new!”   How would you feel if you could face the mirror and say, with conviction and faith, “HAPPY NEW YOU!” Posted December 24, 2011

To write in Chinese, you may choose from 80,000 different characters.  Of course, your keyboard is the size of Delaware.  Honestly, we don’t make it much easier to communicate in English.  For example:   The presence of mind Those presents of mine The peasants who mined The prescience of mimes   In this season for giving will your bank balance allow you to be flamboyant in your shopping?  Or are you more inclined toward the practical, opting to meet needs rather desires?   If you could give each person in the world one present, and if they were all to get the same gift, what would it be?   Long ago some Middle Eastern ranchers were working the graveyard shift when, in a jumpin’ jack flash, the skies lit up with the appearance of some intergalactic guests. One of the aliens spoke up, announcing that a Gift sent from beyond the stars had arrived on earth, a Gift that would bring Peace to all everywhere and in every age to come.  This Peace would be available to all who would accept it on the Giver’s generous terms.   His Deal is all about honoring and celebrating that Present whose Presence keeps on giving.  And keeps on living within us.  Have you unwrapped that Gift yet, the one with your name on it? Posted December 9, 2011

Why do we set aside only one day a year for giving thanks?  Is there so little to be grateful for that we can “git ‘er done” in one 24-hour period?  There’s an old song that begins, “Praise God from Whom all blessings flow?”  “ALL” blessings?  We’re talkin’ “all?”  Let me give that some thought. If we counted them “all,” would there be enough reasons to be thankful to God on more than one day a year?  Hmmmm, let’s see ….. Reason #1  -- I’m breathing. Reason #2 -- I have a pulse. Reason #3 --   While we give some thought to completing our personal list, please pass the gravy. Thank you. Posted November 19, 2011

Do you ever feel like that Ringling clown who’s frantically trying to keep a dozen plates spinning?  As he accelerates one, the next is down to its last wobble. How many of those plates look familiar to you?  Your career, marriage, kids, health, savings and investments, home maintenance, frayed relationships.  Oh, and that spiritual thing.  How many wobbles are left before it’ll be time to pick up the pieces? “Come to me if you’re tired and worn out, and I’ll give you rest.”  Jesus Christ said some other comforting words that you might like to think about, question or discuss.  That’s what we men do at our His Deal nooners in downtown Seattle.  No plates.  Just box lunches and some no-spin conversation. What’s on your plate today? Posted October 17, 2011

In my youth my small family spent a lot of time at the dinner (we called it supper) table.  Mom had toiled in the untenable heat and humidity of an uncooled kitchen, and she brought forth such savory dishes for my Dad and me to ooh and ahh and eat.  There was no menu from which I could choose just mashed potatoes and gravy topped off with syrupy pecan pie ala mode.  No, I was obliged to pay my dues by eating every boiled okra, steamed carrot, spitball-sized asparagus and, handy as lawn dart, the alien Brussels sprout.   When Dad passed me some victuals (don’t say “vittles” at the supper table), I had no recourse but to have some (and not a token portion, don’t you know!), say a sincere “thank you, Mom,” then down every last, gagging morsel.   Stocks, pillories, guillotine and, worst of all, the dreaded “switch,” harvested from some menacing hedges in the back yard --- these “tools of education” would be heading my way, with a vengeance, if I refused to eat anything offered.   If you choose to accept this invitation to sample a His Deal luncheon, you have total freedom to speak up, get up or wake up in opposition to what you’re hearing.  At these boardroom nooners twice a month we open an ancient Book containing great truths with contemporary relevance, spoken by Jesus Christ.   He’s been turned down before.  So He’s prepared once again to offer you a deal you can refuse.   Or seriously consider.   Posted September 22, 2011

Plastic surgeons are living in Gold Rush days as radical re-arrangers of what we were born with.  We are so obsessed with physical appearance that in 2009 we as a nation spent $10 billion on cosmetic reconstruction. But where do you go for a faithlift?  The One who created us said during His first visit to earth, "I've come to give you real life, beyond your boldest dreams." That unimaginable life begins, Jesus Christ said, not by putting you under a knife, but by trusting Him with your life.  He takes the shards of your imperfect self, including every sin, and gives you an all-new, hope-filled way of thinking. What do you think about that? Posted August 2, 2011

Faith is trusting that the floating bridges that span Lake Washington will keep floating.  Belief is having enough faith to drive across them.  Doubt is the absence of that faith, resulting in unbelief.   Can you have doubts about God although you basically believe that He's just, loving, all-knowing, everywhere and all-powerful?   Where's a safe place to examine those doubts?  Why not lug them right to God?  If he's really God, He can handle them.  You can do this, with no intimidation, at His Deal.   Remember the dad in the New Testament who pleads, "I believe, but can I get a little help with my unbeliefs?"   You know what I'm sayin'?   Posted June 18, 2011

Stranded far from home, our scheduled day of departure is slapped with severe weather that grounds all flights.  Hours of airport hanging, negotiating with the ticket agent, net us only a rebooked flight tomorrow.  Day One in the books.   Day Two we now know how this state spurs population growth.  They lure you with fried catfish, hushpuppies and new-wave frozen yogurt stores sporting more spigoted, serve-yourself choices than a Midwestern sow offers her starving piglets.  The soft-spoken locals conspire with the airlines to hold you hostage until you send home for your things and settle down there.   A power outage at a distant airport that feeds us planes means our flight is scratched.  Back to the rental car and hotel counters.  Can you say, "Day Two?"   Day Three dawns under a tornado watch as we rock 'n' roll up into the wild, blue bumpy.  At last, 31,000 feet, and we're aloft on our change-planes-twice, return flight.  So far, lift-offs and landings feel like we've been taking fire from enemy MIGs, and suddenly "air traffic controller" is an oxymoron.   Despite the unfriendly skies, God wraps us with a palpable peace as we remember Jesus saying, "Let not your heart be troubled."  Paul writes, "Don't be anxious about anything," adding, "I have learned to be content in whatever state I find myself."  (Even the states in Tornado Alley?)   Just think of all the lightning bolts, wind shears and overshot runways we may have missed.  And, oh yes, that yogurt store.   Posted May 25, 2011

Spirituality is a growth stock, what with people trying to get in touch with their inner whatever. But isn't it futile to look inwardly for spiritual answers? If you could rattle off the Pythagorean Theorem, don't kid a kidder; you learned that from a prof or a book, not from within yourself.

To run a marathon, you shed pounds. To fly a hot air balloon, you ditch weights overboard. To go on vacation, you take off from work.

Deep sea divers know when to come up for air. Skyscraper window washers know that “down doobie do down down” is a song, not a direction. Married couples know that they’ll have time alone until the grandkids move in. What do you need to rise above? Who or what could provide that lift? “What a God we have!  And how fortunate we are to have Him, this Father of our Master Jesus!  Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand new life and have everything to live for ……. including a future in heaven – and the future starts now!  God is keeping careful watch over us and the future.  The Day is coming when you’ll have it all – left healed and whole” 1 Peter 1:3-5.  That day is when Jesus the Creator comes to take those, both alive and dead, who trust Him to be with Him forever.  Oh my, heaven come ’11. Posted April 8, 2011

If you want to fly from our Atlantic seaboard to the West Coast, you must buy a ticket. You'll probably want to stop delivery of the newspaper (remember them?) and the mail.

Ever wished you could have a Take 2 on a conversation after finding out, to your dismay, that it was the last one you'd have with that person?

My friend Carson Pue, top gun at Arrow Leadership in Beautiful British Columbia, visited our His Deal lunch recently.  He always serves delicious food for thought.  Of this new year he writes, "Before us lies a panorama of life about to unfold.   ...You have not passed this way before.  It can be frightening to enter this unknown if you don't have your hand in the hand of God."   It's not a sign of weakness to hold hands, you know.  It's a sign of love and trust.  As we cross the threshold into 2011, does the hand you're holding have nail scars?   Posted January 2, 2011

'Tis the night before Christmas ever was.  An angelic messenger drops in on some shepherds pulling the night shift.  These hillside handlers stand trembling, jaws agape against the starlit canopy.  Justifiably so.   This was no ordinary heads-up.  Certainly not.  The Master Designer of the universe is coming for a never-to-be-forgotten visit.   Jesus, the Christ, has come to show us what God, His Father, is like.  And to die in our place.  A cruel, wrenching death that paid a debt He did not owe so that you and I can possess a forgiveness we do not deserve.   The huddled herders are told to go find the Babe who's since grown up to be our risen and returning Savior.  Good advice.   Posted December 20, 2010

Years ago on a family holiday, en route to the Grand Canyon, I challenged our rental car. My passengers were dozing as the speedometer crept into triple digits. Why must we always “take it to the limit … or beyond?”

What would you give for a fresh start in life? Perhaps your dream career has become a Stephen King nightmare. Maybe all your life you’ve wanted to be something, but now you wish you’d been more specific. Could it be, God forbid, that, like my precious daughter, you’ve come down with that dreaded “C” word, and in the midst of your teeth-grinding radiation and chemo treatments, your longtime husband left you with two teenagers? Remember those cheap little writing tablets with the plastic cover sheets?  When you’d scribbled your most intimate thoughts on it, you just yanked up the plastic page, and – voila! – a fresh, clean sheet!  Would it be sweet to do that with your life? There’s one sure way to do it, validated by millions of transformed lives during the last 2,000 years. “Anyone united with the Messiah (Jesus Christ) gets a fresh start, is created new.  The old life is gone, a new life burgeons.” Is it time for you to split the sheets? Posted October 11, 2010

Which comes first:  talent, passion to win, or team spirit? In pre-season training camps across this land athletes are pitting mind and muscle against each other, vying for a shot at living their dreams. How about you?  What are you in training for?  Who are you competing against?  For what or whom are you making the effort? You won’t hear this in any halftime pep talk:  “So you want first place?  Then take the last place.  Be the servant of all.” Who in heaven’s name said that?  Clue:  He’s the One who left first place to take your place so that you could be on His team. Posted August 20, 2010

Have you noticed that “common courtesy” is no longer common in our national discourse?  Whatever happened to men standing when a lady enters the room?  Or saying “please” and “thank you” or “pardon me.” “Well, what hole in the Dark Ages did I have the audacity to crawl out of and ask dog-eared questions like those?” Today’s drooling grandpas recall offering ladies their seats on a crowded bus.  And gasp (!), opening doors for women.  And tipping their hats when approaching a lady. Why have we traded a kinder, gentler civility for a coarser lack of shame?  Do we just blame it all on The Simpsons, on latchkey kids, on the disappearance of discipline in the classroom, on the reluctance of the nation’s thought leaders to avoid mentioning God and saying prayers in the public square? Can we return to a time of more courteous conversation?  Should we?  Or are we destined to keep elbowing our way through this “new normal?”   If only we could practice “the second greatest commandment.”  Remember it?  “… and love your neighbor as you love yourself.”  Whose idea was that anyway?   Somebody’s drooling grandpa, no doubt. Posted July 28, 2010

How many parts in the average car? About 14,000.  In a 747?  Some 6,000,000. How many stars in the observable universe?  30 billion trillion. The U.S. population, now some 310,000,000, consists of scores of ethnic groups, thirty-one of which each number more than one million persons.  From our diversity has come our unity.  We gain character and strength from our differences. About 2,500 B.C. the people in Babylonia, today’s Iraq, began constructing a city with a tower that “reaches toward the heavens” to “make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the entire earth.” That tower was named Babel or “confusion.”  Its construction was supernaturally terminated, and the people were dispersed to settle the rest of the planet and create their own nations and languages. A one-world government ruled by man was not in the original plan.  However, one day our planet will be governed not by a mortal but by the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”  And every person will acknowledge Him as either Friend or Judge.   Which will He be for you?  It's your choice. Posted July 5, 2010

One hundred and fifty-one July’s ago Emma was born to Moses and Esther in New York City.  Her writing talents flourished under personal mentoring from Ralph Waldo Emerson and novelist Henry James.  At 38 cancer ended her life of crusading against anti-Semitism.  Racial hate etched Emma Lazarus' great faith in America’s values into our national narrative as she wrote, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free …” The greatest Liberator of all said something similar eighteen centuries earlier:  “If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me, and I will give you rest.” Not only rest, but forgiveness. Right about now how does that sound to you? Posted June 24, 2010

In 1943 Abraham Maslow’s famous Hierarchy of Needs rose to the peak of psychology’s pyramid of learning.  It graphically defines what motivates us. From our basic need for food, water, sleep, oxygen, etc., on up through safety, a sense of belonging and being loved, up through esteem and finally to self-actualization. That hyphenated target symbolizes, at least to Maslow, living up to your potential. What is your potential?  How can you fully attain it?  What happens if you do? A wise carpenter asked, “What if you acquired the entire world but lost your soul?  Or what would you swap your soul to get?”  When asked the most profound question ever, his response was simply, “You’ve got to be reborn.” Where does that rank in your hierarchy of needs? Posted June 5, 2010

Some call it “the Protestant work ethic.”  It’s that sultry siren that whispers, “If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.” The prophets of this self-powered gospel are everywhere.  A thousand dollars will buy you a day of their time at a splashy seminar.  Or a gift of seventy-five dollars will get you their DVD during a telethon. Then it’s all up to you. What’s driving all your efforts?  The need for a better job?  A thirst for fame?  A cry for significance? King Solomon speaks from antiquity, “Mortals make elaborate plans, but God has the last word.  Make your motions and cast your votes, but God has the final say."   Where will you get your best return on investment? Posted May 17, 2010

It’s 1958.  Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant, the Brad and J-Lo of their day, are starring in “Indiscreet.”  Ironically, the hit song from that movie is “Love and Marriage.” Remember … “Love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage.  This I tell you, brother, ‘You can’t have one without the other.’” Then this caution:  “Try, try, try to separate them; it’s an illusion.”  The crooner? Frank Sinatra, four-time husband. Where can you find Love that “never gives up … cares more for others than for self … doesn’t want what it doesn’t have … doesn’t strut … doesn’t have a swelled head … does not force itself on others … isn’t always ‘me first’ … doesn’t keep score of the sins of others ... doesn’t revel when others grovel … takes pleasure in the flowering of truth … puts up with anything ... trusts God always … always looks for the best … never looks back … keeps going to the end?” Rightfully so, we honor moms at this time of year.  But we all know where genuine Love can be found – the kind that comes with faith, hope and ________. Posted April 28, 2010

Can we clear something up, please?  It was not Mark Twain who said ,“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” No, that was penned by a French scientist, mathematician, physicist and philosopher who lived only thirty-nine years.  That in itself seems like not enough time. But Blaise Pascal left us a profound concept that has morphed into the memorable phrase, “a God-shaped hole.” Speaking of man and his emptiness, he wrote, “… this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words, by God himself.” What are you filling yours with? Posted April 8, 2010

They had him cornered, these proud, self-important upholders of a religious system that had them chained by their own rules. “Teacher,” they asked him, “we know you have integrity, teach the way of God accurately, are indifferent to popular opinion, and don’t pander to your students. So tell us honestly.  Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But their Prey knew even the thoughts of these slickmeisters.  He said, "Why are you playing these games with me?  Why are you trying to trap me?  Do you have a coin?  Let me see it.” Let's examine what’s happening on both sides of the coin.  The Predators know if he advises the folks not to pay taxes, they could have him arrested for rebellion.  But if he urges them to pay their taxes, they could frame him as a sympathizer of the Roman oppressors.  They salivated over their no-lose "gotcha" prize. Both the Predators and their Prey face an “opportunity.”  Which “process” would each use to come up with their “decision?”  How would you answer the question on the floor? Wise decisions are the result of applying the right process to the opportunity at hand.  From which well do you draw your waters of wisdom? Posted March 18, 2010

To enter the Olympics as a contestant requires a commitment, preparation and performance most of us will never approach. Question.  To be a player in life, why aren’t the entry requirements as exclusive as those of the Olympics where they don’t admit you just because you “look” like an athlete, or because you think you’ve worked hard enough to deserve it. Almost two thousand years ago a well-educated man from a Middle Eastern city called Tarsus blazed a trail into what’s now southern Europe, setting the stage for what would become “western civilization.” He viewed life as a race to be run, a fight to be fought.  Had he not run to win and fought well, we might still be medieval. What does winning in life look like to you?  My Hero wore a crown of thorns so that you and I, in the spirit of the Olympics podium, could sport a crown of righteousness. Have you been fitted for your crown yet? Posted February 24, 2010

What is the state of your unions? Are the people and causes you’ve thrown in with providing you with what they promised?  Unhealthy alliances make incompatible bedfellows. At this point in your life, which unions do you want to preserve, avoid and create?  Don’t look now, but you’ve just written the transcendent parts of your personal plan for this year.   In short, what or who are you willing to fight for?  Has any of them already died for you? Posted January 28, 2010

New year, fresh start.  What to do first? Hire an MBA to write an ambitious business plan? Win the lotto and revamp your priorities overnight? Grab a strap on the commuter train and say, “Yes, boss” for forty years? Or you could fulfill the grand purpose for which you were brought into this world.  But where does one go to gain such rare insight? “Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God” (1 Corinthians 1:25, The Message). Posted January 4, 2010

“’tis better to give than to receive?” But there are some gifts that require more power than our job description allows. Like….. our next breath. That’s quite a gift. Who do we thank for it? And what other gift did that Giver give us? Hint: it rhymes with the first syllable of “Christmas.” Let’s see, now we have at least two things to thank Him for.

They’d hiked cross-country with Him, watched Him do inconceivable things, and were cheered and jeered with Him. Yet when He called them to a higher standard, many bailed. To the few remaining, He asked, “Are you leaving Me too?” “Not us,” they replied. “Who else could we turn to who has the words of real life?” To whom do you turn for those words?

Can’t we settle this amicably?  Oatmeal without syrup, sliced bananas and almonds is a breakfast worth boycotting.  Without all those ingredients, it doesn’t work.   Likewise, too few or too many chromosomes in each cell of our bodies is not good math.  Forty-six is the limit per cell, thank you.  And what’s a molecule of water without both hydrogen atoms?  Or when energy matters, what good is E=MC without squaring the C?  You can’t have a yin without its yang, they say.   Would the same algorithm be true of us?  Did you earn your way into this world, or was it simply a present for which you did nothing but show up?  Can there be a gift without a Giver?   Are you on speaking terms with the Giver of your next breath?  Or should we send out an APB?   Posted October 21, 2009

Of all the people you’ll encounter today, it’s safe to say that most will be trying to cope with a significant level of grief or stress.   This could account for their pained or out-of-sort countenance, their curtness in conversation, or their disagreeable inflexibility.   Perhaps the villain they’re battling is disease, financial pressure, a fractured relationship, unfulfilled dreams.    And just perhaps this describes the person in your mirror.   A Man I know once said, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me, and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me, and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."    His offer still stands.  Sounds like a good deal, doesn’t it?   Posted September 30, 2009

Towering over the Pacific Northwest, 14,411-foot Mount Rainier rises from the emerald green shoulders of the Cascades, part of the feared Pacific Ring of Fire.  This muzzled monster, like its sister, St. Helens, could bury millions of us miles-deep in minced evergreens and pureed glacial boulders, laced with a devilish dollop of flaming lava.   Creeping up the spine of this dozing mammoth in late summer, we’re cheered by otherwise shy wildflowers.  Frosty-clear rills are prancing over muscle-bound, granite Lego’s like Fred Astaire descending from some Rhode Island-sized snowfield.  Each trail turn frames a post card keepsake.   Back in the century-old lodge at Paradise, in the warm embrace of the great stone fireplace, we reflect on the breathless scale of this looming lady who peekaboos with tourists, bucks climbers from its glacial withers like an unbroken bronc, this snowy sentinel that defines its kingdom.   We mortals tilt toward overstating ourselves.  But standing near, on or even atop Rainier, you’re still a gnat alongside a nebula.  It truly is larger than life. Or is it?    Inspired ancients predicted in writing that one day the stars will fall from the sky, and the mountains will collapse into the seas.  But the central figure of that same book vows that you and I will live forever, even beyond death.  And it says we have a choice as to our ultimate address.   Now we’re talkin’ larger than life.    Have you met the Mountain Mover?   Posted August 28, 2009

We don’t want to go there, even in a fleeting thought.  But, bummer, summer’s end is just around the bend.   Has your “rain break” delivered all the satisfaction you’d staked your hopes on?  Or did someone or something toss you a gutter ball?   You had all your ducks in a row.  Every unwanted surprise anticipated.  Even a killer Plan B standing by to pinch hit.   And yet, to date, your swing at summer has been a series of foul balls.    If only people would stick to your script!  If only your boss, your staff, the Dow, the Fed, the stimulus package, Congress, those crazy North Koreans, Ahmadinejad, the media …. all those folks who, if they had a brain cell, would be listening to YOU…….   Who really is in control here anyway?  Apparently not you.  Certainly not me.   Let’s see.  Who does that leave? Posted August 8, 2009

Seasoned mariners are never far from their trusty tide tables.  They know it’s senseless to sail without them, that a successful voyage hinges not on hunches nor on drafting behind vessels in the vicinity.   Who influences your choices about money, relationships, career, health, values, spiritual faith?     The man who led Japan to post-war superiority in industry and technology, W. Edwards Deming, preached, “It is not enough to do your best, you must know what to do, and THEN do your best.”   Sincerity of motives is not enough, he says; it’s the validity of your information that counts.  Are you charting your course by an unreliable, albeit widely accepted source?   The man reputed to be the wisest ever wrote, “Start with God – the first step in learning is bowing down to God.  Only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.”   If each of us is navigating “under the influence,” whose influence are you under today?    Posted July 19, 2009

“The Best Things In Life Are Free?” Sez who? How do you put a price on: a mother’s love? a father’s time spent being focused on just you? the security of a warm bed and full tummy? friends who really care about you. beyond “Whassup, dude?” independence to go as you please? knowing that your vote matters and will be counted? choosing the career that fulfills you the most? setting your own priorities? being forgiven? strength to handle life’s curve balls? the indescribable peace of knowing where you’re going?

Brides. Graduates. Dads. Birthdays. Anniversaries. Summer vacation.  Come to think of it, June – not December – is a top contender for the busiest, most celebration-packed month of the year.  Lowly, non-descript, one-syllable June slips quietly to the front of the pack like an unheralded, 50-to-1 shot at Churchill Downs.   There are presents to wrap and receive, greeting cards to send and to read.  Important milestones to note.  Faithful friends to hug from afar.  Dear family members to honor. Each event on your calendar recalls a moment to treasure with care, like a Tiffany’s keepsake.  Then there are memories you’d just as soon would never creep back, even annually.  They seem to play no favorites; all of us are haunted by some.   But THIS June will be a new beginning!  Let’s focus this month on all the wonderful people and events and memories and things in our life that we can CELEBRATE.  Each time we see the word “June” let’s laser in on that first letter and come up with another reason to be Joyful.   By the way, what, or whom, is the wellspring of real Joy in your life? Posted May 24, 2009

It’s 1866.  The Civil War is a throbbing, open wound in our American mind. Our battle-scarred grandfathers, having stumbled back home, are hard at work rebuilding their lives.  It’s a more daunting duty than surviving our country’s bloodiest conflict.   Something is stirring besides chocolate sodas at Henry Welle’s drugstore in Waterloo, New York.  Henry dips into his creative fountain and scoops up an idea that captures the flavor of the day.  “Let’s close all the shops in town for just one hour to salute those soldiers who’d lost their lives in the War, the ones now gracing our Waterloo cemetery.”  It’s Decoration Day.     In 1882 it becomes Memorial Day, a patriotic pause to recall the brave souls who made the ultimate sacrifice to heal and protect our land.  Yet today this weekend seems to be more holiday than memorial.    This year let’s ponder two questions:   What have I forgotten that I should remember? What am I remembering that I should forget?   Someone folded these two questions into a single plea:  “Forgive them, Father.  They don’t know what they’re doing.” Posted May 21, 2009

On the sea side of the Cascades you know summer’s but a breath away when the tulips explode in blinding colors across Skagit Valley’s fertile flood plain.  Their coming out party anticipates a welcome change of seasons from a cool wet to a briefly dry sunny.   Life has seasons.  Some, warm and welcoming.  Others, cold and off-putting.  Some bring unbridled joy.  Others deliver pain.  Some find us planting, investing.  During others we reap rewards of leaner, sacrificial days.   Are you in the midst of a season at this time?  Is it one that you wish would never end, or that you wish would end with today’s sunset?   Maybe you’re sensing a change of seasons?  A change of your choosing? or of someone else’s?   What do you need to survive this season and be ready for the next?   According to an ancient sage, “To everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.  A time to be born and a time to die.”  Are you prepared?   Maybe this is the season for asking those questions.    God’s given you tulips to do just that. Posted May 10, 2009

Oil wells being deeper than coffee cups, the NBA’s Sonics are now the Oklahoma City Thunder.  Will Seattle fans ever have another pro basketball team?  Some have no hope.  Yet a hard core clings to dreams of repeating as world champions.   Will the deep pockets of local billionaires be enough to make that dream come true?  They weren’t “the key” last year when the club swapped snowy peaks for dusty prairies.   Will NBA Commissioner David Stern have a change of heart and grant mercy to Space Needle Country?  The fickle thumb of fate could either go up or down, as we’ve seen.   What about …. faith?  Would having faith that Seattle be restored to the ranks of the pro basketball fraternity make a difference?  Faith in what?  Faith in whom?   Faith is only as reliable as the object in which it is placed.   Maybe, like Sonics fans, you’ve noticed that in your own life.   It’s worth reflecting on.  We do a bit of that at our His Deal lunches. They’re complimentary.  Like free throws.  Posted April 6, 2009

What rights do you have?  Is everyone entitled to have them?  How do you get them?  What gives you the right to do as you please?  What’s the source of your confidence, your swagger?  Is it your wealth, career, talent, education, health, appearance, physical strength, quick wit, faith in a leader or in your country? We hear a lot about our rights -- the right to remain silent, the right to privacy, to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.  What is right?  And what is wrong?  Who makes that call?  Is that up to each of us to decide on a sliding scale?  Our Declaration of Independence proclaims your inalienable right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  On what do you base your right to happiness in the here-and-now?  And in the hereafter?  Posted March 3, 2009

Do you know what to do next, why that action is important, and how to get it done?   Executive coach Bobb Biehl has helped hundreds of leaders get focused by teaching them how to answer these three questions.  Who doesn’t want to face each moment with a crystal clear understanding of how to proceed?  Who wouldn’t follow a fog-free leader like this?   Biehl has proven that the key to gaining an unclouded sense of direction is asking profound questions.  Only then can you hope to get actionable answers.  Superficial questions yield meaningless information.  Worst of all, when you ask no questions, you get zero input.   Are these questions profound enough:   For what purpose was I born? If I could accomplish only one thing in my lifetime, what do I want that to be?  With these answers in hand, how should I spend my working hours? At life’s end what one thing do I want to be remembered for?   Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”  By which metrics do you measure your life?  On the basis of wealth, reputation, possessions, title, ZIP code?   If God exists, and if He’s the Creator of life, would peering at life through His microscope give us the clearest focus on reality?   Ready to take a peek? Posted January 30, 2009

“We make life so much more complicated when we think life is ‘all about me.’  The rest of the world never cooperates.  No one else got the memo.  When we see ourselves as the center of the universe, we live in constant frustration because the rest of creation refuses to revolve around us.   “Life vastly simplifies, and satisfaction greatly amplifies when we begin to realize our awesome roles.  God is God.  From our perspective, it’s all about Him.  Thank goodness, He is the center of the universe.  So, how can we live with such a God-centered mentality?  Freely!  Because from God’s perspective, it’s all about us.  We seek to please Him. He seeks to perfect us – and life works.  Not without pain, but with purpose.   “Without the Potter, clay is just dirt.  ‘The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being’ (Genesis 2:7).   “’I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me (Isaiah 46:9).’”   From BREAKING FREE by Beth Moore, B& H Publishing Group, Nashville, TN,  Trade Paper Edition 2007, p. 181 Posted January 17, 2009