This past week, on Wednesday as I got out of the pool and left the gym, and noticed, my attitude was down. I could not find my joy. A strange notion! It was like my spirit was up against a wall. I texted a good friend of mine, Rand, listing out three needs I could…
Tag: prayer
A Swim Filled with Thanks
At 24-hour fitness I had a one-hour personal trainer session with Bryan the trainer manager at my club. It is a way for him to get new clients. He spent a half hour with me, taught me better stances, use of breath, and walked me around the club. At the sales portion of his presentation,…
Life Comes in Waves
Listening to my CEO doing a training I was suddenly struck with this fact — he is leading from his strengths. Of course, hopefully this is true for all of us in life, but I imagine many of us are not leading from our strengths but wishing we had different strengths. The only reason I…
Thank You For Changing My Life
I just left a Marco Polo for Bradley. Some 30 years my junior, Bradley is one of the men God has placed in my life for me to pour into. He and I have begun to enjoy leaving frequent MarcoPolos for one another day by day as we encounter life, have needs for prayer and…
Men who put Skin on Jesus: Iron Sharpens Iron
The “South Banks Project” was a bitter pill for Banks’ residents. Streets and utilities had been completed in what had been a field and construction had begun on the houses, when I arrived at the church. By and large, the predominant attitude about the project in the community was critical. The folk of the Banks…
Men who Put Skin on Jesus: Bill, Rand and Glen
The pastor at a nearby congregation had a good friend in Bill Seagren, who was pastoring at Marquam and Carus UMCs. Some members from my previous church in California were his parishioners. I wrote of that here. The three of us met for prayer a few times. I always longed for those prayer times…
Men who Put Skin on Jesus: Mark, Dex and Dick
Beginnings are tough, no matter where. I had arrived in Banks straight from the revival in San Jacinto and was full of how much I could offer. I was full of myself. This is never a good start for pastoral ministry. A constant refrain for many years there was, “They just don’t get it.” As…
Men who put Skin on Jesus: Dr. Steve Harper and Dr. Reg Johnson
Called into ordained ministry in the winter of 1983, Karen and I left for the Wilmore, Kentucky campus of Asbury Theological Seminary the following fall, in 1984. I arrived believing I was there to prove I was ready to do the work God had called me to rather than understand I was rather there to…
Men who put Skin on Jesus: “Ken Marshall and Herr Huber”
(this is the third installment of my short memoirs) After 8th grade graduation, my mom and dad again gave me the option of continuing at a high school closer to the ranch or returning to Turlock. I wanted to return. Again, I wanted to start over. We lived six miles from Turlock High School. I bought…
The Men who Put Skin on Jesus: “Little”
Memoirs On the outside, I looked like a man, grown-up, clean-shaven, sometimes dressed in black slacks, a colorful Ariat shirt, and Altras. But inside, I was just a pup, like Ben the grizzly, old funeral director in Forest Grove called me. It was a freezing cold winter day when he picked me up in the…
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