"Faith"fully Yours

Have you seen those commercials advertising a law firm that promises to get you 10, 25 and even 40 times what your insurance company can get you?   At first seeing the advertisement and hearing these claims seems preposterous to me.   But the more often I see it the more concerned I become. What is it in our human nature that is being tapped by these claims?   Why is this so attractive?   It seems to me that this touches into a side of us that is not very attractive at best – and at worst a side of us that can be lazy, self-centered, vengeful or greedy.   The attraction of gratuitous wealth is powerful and hard for any of us to resist.   And why would we? That is the question these claims lead us to.   If these attorneys are willing to do the work and the promises are even 50% true – what harm could there be in placing a call? I believe that too often we are not only attracted to promises of “free” wealth, but that we feel we are entit...

More often than not we praise and award those individuals who make a real difference in their field or in some area of service.   The actions of an individual are acclaimed and to be emulated. There is nothing wrong with this.   Parents, teachers and mentors of all kinds will tell you that they work very hard to raise the children and youth in their charge to be people who will excel in life.  How does this gel or dovetail with teamwork?   Is it possible for both realities to coexist and actually make our world a better place?   I think so – though it takes an inner strength and self-understanding that develops with time and experience.    This topic comes to mind as I watch some of the many interviews with our outgoing presidential team, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.   This is not a commentary on one party verses the other.   Rather, this is a reflection on what I have been reading and hearing in recent days.   When Vice ...

On New Year’s Day I left Church and said to the pastor “this year will be better, I know it!” His response to me was a cautious “if you say so.” I have been thinking about this and praying about it most of this week.  What possessed me to speak so assuredly that 2017 would be better?  Do I really know that?  Of course not!  And if it is not better when I look back at this time next year will I feel that God has let me down? Or will I believe that it is my fault? And what does it even mean to have a good year ? I believe all I can say as a person of faith is that I am certain that regardless of how the year unfolds, God will be with me and with us.  As we look ahead to our personal and communal realities, there isn’t anything else we can be sure of.  We might love our job; we could become unemployed or we could be dissatisfied.  We could enjoy good health or we might become ill or suffer chronic pain.  Perhaps someone in our family or ci...