Grief remembered, reminded.

December 7, 1941. 
2400 dead. 1200 wounded.
18 US Ships and 300 planes destroyed or damaged.

"A date that will live in infamy"   

President Roosevelt

"I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant and instilled in him a terrible resolve."  

Admiral Yamamoto

Both men were right; the world was rescued from an Axis of Evil, but not before millions lost their lives and the planet was gashed by a nuclear weapon. 

America, an idea that produces passion to sacrifice. Freedom isn't free.

Life is fast.
Live it well...M6.8 bN

Metrics Matter

This from the closing "reveal" scene in The Delivery Man...

"I'm a meat truck driver. I'm an incompetent meat truck driver." To which his father replies "You ARE an incompetent delivery man. It takes you four times longer to deliver the meat than any other driver. But, every where you go, they love you."

So how do you measure success? 

Metrics matter.



Life is fast.
Live it well....M6.8 bN

Lost AND found.

Christmas is, for many, a difficult passage at the end of each year. Because our memories are so strong, and so many memories are surfaced by this blessed time of year, those who have experienced loss, feel it most acutely over the six weeks from Thanksgiving to the New Year. I'm reposting a blog I first wrote five years ago about the mystery and paradox we call "loss." Life doesn't come with any any guarantee. Our family absorbed a crushing loss eighteen months ago when Braden, our 14 year old grandson, died after a intense sixteen-month battle with cancer. 

For those in pain today...

"Loss. I've had my share over the years.

Two weeks after I graduated from High School, my father died, I was 17. In 1984, just after my 31st birthday, my mother died . I was 38 when I learned I had diabetes. I began a 'rest of my life' battle with skin cancer in 1996, at age 43. Disappointment...oh my, where do I start. Failure--several crushing instances. Unrealized dreams, of course.

My story isn't unique. It's called, 'being human.' Loss is just a part of the 'living experience.' Life is hard, and, can be very harsh. Loss, though we all face it, is not simply a one size fits all process. For some, loss means never experiencing 'what could have been.' For others it's remembering 'what was.' For all of us it's losing people we love, to death. Life's 'Harsh passages' include broken relationships, disease, tragic accidents, children 'lost' in adolescence and never able to move on to productive adult lives, addiction, betrayal, unfaithful spouses and/or friends, failure...have I described your 'loss-story' yet?

Recently, an extended family member, and friend, facing a number of very difficult circumstances posted a comment about loss, she concluded, 'Easy to be philosophical...easy to be grateful too.' As I paused to reflect on her words, I was struck by this profound insight.

'Easy to be grateful too...' Really? We can't, generally, control loss. Bad things happen to good (and bad) people. We can, however, control our attitude and our response to loss. We can ask 'why me?' or we can declare 'why NOT me!' That's the 'philosophical' part.

The 'grateful' part comes when, our pain notwithstanding, we aren't swallowed by bitterness; through the darkness of the moment, we still see the sunshine we've experienced over the years--as well as the expectation that the sun will shine again. Loss frames our perspective. It reminds us of the providence of God and the blessings we enjoy and have enjoyed through the ebb and flow of life. It's ironic, loss and gratitude are two sides of the same coin. Tennyson understood this when he penned 'It's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.'

The sentiment that struck me as so profound was 'easy.' It just never occurred to my friend to not be grateful. The emotional and spiritual place that she 'lives' made gratitude a logical extension, not of her pain, but of His promise. The Psalmist (42.5) said it this way...

'Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God.'

Loss isn't abandonment. It isn't the death of hope. It's an intersection of life where one can step back and see life not just for what it isn't, but for what it is; it's at that place, in that moment, we see the goodness of God, and it's 'easy to be grateful.'

Lost and found. A fitting description.

'The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
23 Great is His faithfulness;
His mercies begin afresh each morning.
24 I say to myself, 'The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in Him!'” 

Lamentations 3.22,23 NLT

I will Hope. I choose hope. I thank God for my blessed hope, Jesus Messiah.


Life is fast.
Live it well...bN tGit

Saying Goodbye.

This is a blog I posted two years ago, today. It's about saying goodbye to our faithful pet companions. So many of my friends crossed this bridge in 2017--I repost it here for you--insert the name of your beloved pet and describe them, remember them...and as a memorial to Karma--gone two years now--and the inspiration for these good words. For those not fortunate enough to have a pet like these...perhaps 2018 will be the year you see your life transformed by the unconditional love of a faithful pet companion . I hope so.

"I have loved dogs since I was very young boy and a little poodle mix followed by brother home. We named him 'Yogi' (the dog not my brother) and he filled our home with love for just about 11 years. One evening we found him lifeless, out in the yard. We speculated he'd had a stroke. I was crushed.

I've reprised that loss four more times: Alphie age 8, Max age 13, Barley age 14 and Kate age 15. Each time they pass into my memory--I'm crushed, again. Yet once I move through my grief, I can't resist the compulsion to find our next dog companion and start the cycle again. My lovely Lab Lily sits with her chin wresting on the top of my feet as I type these words. Chance, our dashing Dachshund, is rattling (his tags drag on the laminate floors) round the kitchen.

So somewhere down the line I have a least two more gut-wrenching 'letting-go' passages to make. I have a friend who just today put her lovely dog, Karma, down. Karma was loosing her battle with cancer and it was time for my friend to let her best K9 friend go. Why do we do it? My friend posted a quote this evening on her Face Book feed. It explains why pet owners put ourselves in the way of certain heartbreak.

'There is a cycle of love and death that shapes the lives of those who choose to travel in the company of animals. It is a cycle unlike any other. To those who have never lived through its turnings or walked its rocky path, our willingness to give our hearts with full knowledge that they will be broken seems incomprehensible. Only we know how small a price we pay for what we receive; our grief, no matter how powerful it may be, is an insufficient measure of the joy we have been given.'

Suzanne Clothier

That's it! Look at that, '...our grief, no matter how powerful it may be, is an insufficient measure of the joy we have been given.'  My life has been better because of my love for my dogs, and most especially, FROM my dogs.

So, tonight I celebrate a lovely dog named Karma, her big empathic eyes and lovely brindle coat are a magnificent memory now. She 'got' my friend, she loved my friend; she trusted my friend. A wonderful tribute to the connection they shared for 8 years. Yes, dogs make life better...and parting? Parting surely is sweet-sorrow."


Life is fast.
Live it well...bN tGit

The Reason for the Season?

WE are the reason for the season. It was rescue mission!

"When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners...God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us..." Romans 5.6, 8 NLT

Christmas is joyous because God's love never fails.

Shalom L'Chaim, through Jesus Messiah; let it be.


Life is fast.
Live it well...M6.8 bN

My Christmas Wish List

You may be familiar with the list of 7 Modern Sns--or not; the conditions it describes are infamously familiar to us all: 

• Wealth without work
• Industry without morality
• Worship without sacrifice
• Politics without principles
• Science without humanity
• Knowledge without character
• Pleasure without conscience...

This, then, is my Christmas wish list for America in 2017: Work, morality, sacrifice, principles, humanity, character and conscience. 

My prayer for  2018 and beyond:

Father create in us a hunger for what is righteous and just. Help us to understand that...

• ...Wealth driven by lust for money is evil and work is an honorable endeavor that gives us meaning and purpose. 
• ...Industry must produce access to opportunity for all.
• ...Worship demands a values-centered life and requires sacrifice.
• ...Politics is the business of the people and is a noble and self-sacrificing life-call.
• ...Science can create in us a deeper spiritual hunger. 
• ...Knowledge is a path to humility. 
• ...Pleasure is the by-product of good character.

May we be given clarity to "Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God" (Micah 6.8)  through Jesus Messiah, let it be. 

Life is fast.

Live it well...M6.8 bN

The MAIN thing.

On December 28, 1968 (age 15) I said "yes" to Jesus, and in that moment my life was transformed. 49 years since then is...a few. My life has a not always been a clear reflection of His presence, but it has for the most part been, by His grace, a slow and steady "long obedience in the same direction."

The dynamics of our culture, over my lifetime, could be described as a devolution from "conscience" and evolution to "relevance" as our moral compass. It's ironic that the most extreme expression of the conservative mind, libertarianism, is in many ways the penultimate form of liberalism. My point is that "systems of thought," even theological systems of thought, can't change the trajectory of the human spirit. God does that one person, one decision, at a time. We just don't have the temperament to pull that off. History is filled with movements which morphed into extremism that marginalized human beings, in the name of a "greater-good," producing tyranny and crimes against humankind.

It's not my job to save my culture from itself. The part I have been given, as a Christ-follower, is to point the people in my sphere of influence to God, who can. This is "the main thing" for me. I'm not called to point them to "systems" or movements that will save the day, but to the God of eternity who loves human beings with an everlasting and long suffering love, a transformative love. He does the formative work in transforming people; this, can change culture.

So then, how can I keep the main thing, the main thing?

• Be humble. 
• Be accountable.
• Love my spouse. 
• Act as an agent of peace. 
• Trust in the power of God. 
• See people the way God sees them.
• Talk to people about Jesus Messiah.
• Focus on walking close to God on a daily basis. 
• Empower my kids and grandkids with a legacy of godliness. 
• Declare the principles and precepts of God in a loving, inclusive way. 
• Love unconditionally my enemies and those who might seek to hurt me. 
• Pray for those raised up as leaders in my church, community and nation.

All this said... "12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us (me)." Philippians 3.12-14 NLT

Systems and movements, by their very nature, devolve. God, "is the same yesterday, today and forever."

I choose God. He produces change which gives me, gives us all...HOPE.

Press on.


Life is fast.
Live it well...M6.8 bN

Thanksgiving Menu.

Thanksgiving is on the horizon. We are blessed for many reasons. One stands above all the others: God.

We will gather to pause and reflect on God's mercy and grace again in 2017. It never gets old. You see His mercy and grace, what the prophet Jeremiah refers to as His "steadfast love," NEVER fails to show up--it's New EVERY morning.

Like every family, we've needed an abundance of His stedfast love in 2017. We have leaned hard into our weakness and distress, there to discover God's strength and goodness. We continue to walk through the loss of our beloved grandson Braden--he flew into the arms of Jesus 17 months ago.  Then of course there are all the "usual suspects" that threaten our calm-delight and challenge us to keep our eyes fixed on our great God and Father in heaven.

Through it all--God is, has been and will continue to be a Strong Tower for us.  The Apostle Paul addressed the impact of our Heavenly Father on our flawed and fragile state in his letter to the church in Corinth (4.6b-10ff)...

"...God, who said, 'Let there be light in the darkness,' has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

8 We are PRESSED on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are PERPLEXED, but not driven to despair. 9 We are HUNTED DOWN, but never abandoned by God. We get KNOCKED DOWN, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through SUFFERING, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies."

The life of Jesus, seen in OUR bodies--THROUGH...our suffering.  The world has been bent by sin...and that has produced an environment that generates suffering and loss.  God didn't do that, sin did it.  He is engaged in a plan to restore the planet, in the meantime...He is restoring people, one-by-one, when through effective faith they embrace Jesus Messiah as the risen Son of God and Lord of all (Romans 10.9,10).

After effective faith comes the privilege of being fragile Clay Jars filled with the light of the Glory of God shining brightly for others to see, to contemplate...the life of Jesus in our bodies?!  It's a mystery--HE uses me to reach them.

I am grateful for this assurance that my suffering is NOT in vain. God redeems it; using it to reveal the life of Jesus to my sphere of influence...restoring people one-by-one.

Thanksgiving 2017...

Father in heaven, I am profoundly grateful for assurance, presence, sustenance,  strength, purpose, tenacity--Your steadfast love; profoundly grateful for my redemption and restoration; profoundly grateful that Your grace and mercy have been embraced by my kids, my grandkids; profoundly grateful that joy has come through mourning. Thanks be to You my God for our Blessed hope.  Empower me to be an radiant Clay Jar, Through Jesus Messiah, let it be.  

Really thankful. 

Life is fast.

Live it well...M6.8 bN 

Thanks GIVING.

The harvest is nearly complete. It's Monday, two more days to Thanksgiving.

These are times that challenge us all; but joy, real joy can't be touched and isn't determined by circumstance...

"Lord empower us to drill down deep and discover joy in simplicity, profound blessing in being alive; a kind touch, a gentle word, a thoughtful deed, a smile, a poignant moment. Use us as instruments that produce a concert of joy wherever this week takes us; where life takes us. Asking, seeking, knocking...Through Jesus Messiah, let it be."

Make this a happy Thanks GIVING.


Life is fast.
Live it well...M6.8 bN

Out of the Gray.

Lake slips into a mist of gray
Horizon framed by trees stripped by Fall, bracing for winter.
Seasons change, storms pass.

A metaphor for life?
Fifty shades of gray, stripped by storms bracing for loss.
Where is hope?

A Blue Herron floats over surface.
The Spirit floats over chaos.
Flashes of color break through the mist.
Seasons change, storms pass.
God--not lost in mist; clear and present in the gray.
Hope.

Life is fast.

Live it well...M6.8 bN