Faith Venture

Meet Your Heroes

May 15, 2026

Can you live with the complexity of humans?

I know many people who express instant visceral dislike for certain people For them, the reaction tends to be either/or. Sometimes the radar is a bit off. They like someone, perhaps even adore or admire. Then a flaw appears in the statue of the hero.

Some are more like I am—enjoy the complexity of people. Some are really good; some are seemingly inherently evil. Most do good things, yet have some flaws. Is it possible to admire the good while recognizing the bad. I will almost always extend grace and trust initially letting the other prove which way to go.

These thoughts came from an essay by Brian Morykon of Renovaré:

They say don’t meet your heroes, especially spiritual writers. I say meet them. Let your illusions be shattered, and the complex reality that is a real person make you praise God who brings forth living water out of dust. Your heroes don’t have to be alive to meet them, either. Find them in the Bible. Thank God Scripture isn’t stained glass, untouchable and aloof. It’s alive with extraordinary people of ordinary clay, cracked vessels through whom the light of God beams out.

The intriguing thing about people stories in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures lies in their complex humanity. Even Moses and Abraham are not treated “with kid gloves.” Both heroes of the Jewish faith are presented with flaws and all. Even Jesus cursed a fig tree seemingly all out of character. Certainly “the Twelve” failed to show hero qualities until after the resurrection.

Thanks to my parents, I often dwell on those parts of me that fall far short of heroic…or even good. All of us need to recognize our own and others’ complexities. We have our good days and bad days. On balance, what is our contribution toward making disciples of Jesus?

Posted in Attitude, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

On Writing

May 14, 2026

Paul Graham, an early venture capitalist, on writing: “1. When you write something intended to be read by an important person, go through it and cut every unnecessary word. 2. The reader of anything you publish is an important person.”

The same thing could be said about speaking—except you must pause and think before you speak.

Posted in Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Hard Shelled

May 13, 2026

I remember my grandfather taking me out fishing for my first experience. I was perhaps about six years old. He came home the afternoon before with a pie pan covered with a damp cloth. Peeking inside, I saw a number of crawdads. He explained they were soft-shell crawdads. They were to be the bait we would use to catch catfish in the river.

Later in my youth, I experienced catching mature hard-shell crawdads in the shallows of a creek.

About that time, I heard the description “hard-shell Baptists.” To this day, I don’t know the details of the meaning.

I have no clue what reminded me about those experiences. But, naturally, I thought about it.

Let’s assume that transitioning from soft-shell to hard-shell is a metaphor for becoming older and becoming fixed in our ideas. We are no longer growing. Some may add an observation “closed-minded.”

My orientation to life never lost its youthful curiosity. Every day I look for something I can learn. Some people think I know a lot about the Bible. Well, I should. I led classes in it for decades. But, again, every day I discover something new I’d never thought about.

I would hate to be viewed as hard-shelled.

Want to discover a way to look at the Bible through new eyes? We are taking a short-term class looking at the New Testament through the eyes of the North American Indigenous peoples. It’s the same story we know translated into English using the concepts native to these peoples. It forces you to open your mind and see again for the first time.

Posted in Study, Attitude, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Looking at the Journey

May 12, 2026

I have often joked, albeit half-seriously, about how we view God as the Great Vending Machine in the Sky. Drop a prayer in the slot, and a solution appears.

My friend, Jon Swanson, wrote recently, “More and more, I try to talk with Jesus about process rather than outcomes. He already knows what I want, anyway. I think he cares most about the journey and how I travel. I suspect a sense of peace happens when I do what I can with what I have – and trust him for the outcome.”

I like the image of Jesus along for the journey. I’ve been leading small grief support groups for the past 18 months or so. As we discuss the varieties of grief experience, we discover this is not a one time event. It’s a journey that includes different stops along the way.

You may have noticed that your spiritual journey has a similar rhythm of starts and detours and stops and insight followed by being lost.

Richard J. Foster and Dallas Willard and the Renovaré movement talk of the with-God life. Or like the subject of the little book The Way of the Pilgrim who tried to live a life of prayer while walking through rural Russia.

Sorry, once I start thinking, I start linking. And now, I must start the day’s journeying.

Posted in Awareness, Disciplines, Prayer | Leave a Comment »

Change Your Life

May 11, 2026

A popular meme on the internet holds, “You are what you repeatedly do, excellence therefore is not an act but a habit.” Aristotle did not say this. The statement does fit within the scope of his thought. Leadership thinker, John C. Maxwell, restated this thought as, “You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.”

I approached this thought the other day about consistency and again regarding wishing and doing.

This thinking applies to health, fitness, learning, and relationships. Change something that you can practice daily. Then practice. With intention. Daily.

I’ve experienced this fact of life multiple times. It works.

Posted in Disciplines, Doing | Leave a Comment »

Burning Time

May 8, 2026

Newsletter writer, Shane Parrish, wrote in Brain Food, “If you burn money, people call you crazy. If you burn time, they call you busy. We treat money as valuable because it’s quantifiable and time as disposable because it’s not.”

This is an intriguing thought. I’m betting we all fritter away our time. A couple days ago, my stomach was queasy. I could not focus. The good news—I was too tired and out of sorts to burn any money. The bad news—I did nothing useful with my time. No study. No writing. No practicing.

A better thought:

Shall we neither burn money nor time? Instead focus…with intention. And if the body’s system is out of whack, then that’s where the focus should go. That’s the real problem. Deal with it with rest or medication or a walk.

Know where the real current problem lies. Deal with it first.

Sometimes we’re so busy trying to do one thing that we miss the original constraint that must be solved.

Enter email address on the right and click follow to receive updates via email. I will never spam you. I’m not in that business! Thank you.

Posted in focus, Intention | Leave a Comment »

Deep Listening; Loving Speech

May 7, 2026

I follow many paths to find wisdom that will help me become a better person. Thich Nhat Hanh from the Buddhist tradition was a person I greatly admired.

He once wrote, “The intention of deep listening and loving speech is to restore communication, because once communication is restored, everything is possible, including peace and reconciliation.”

So much of our society these days seems to experience talking at each other or talking past each other. People have felt “free” to say whatever comes to mind. In addition to what the Apostle James says about speech, I applaud Hanh’s comment about intentional loving speech.

Consider how civil discourse would be if we weren’t trying to get “likes” and followers on social media and news media didn’t amplify the most extravagant and hateful speech.

Deep listening and loving speech. What a wonderful idea.

Posted in Listening | Leave a Comment »

I Wish I Could

May 6, 2026

The famous concert pianist played a short chamber concert. A middle-aged woman rushed up to her at the conclusion.

“Oh, how lovely,” she gushed. “I wish I could play like that.”

“No you don’t,” replied the pianist. “If you did, you would find a teacher and practice hours a day.”

You wish you knew the Bible like someone you know.

You can. Pick up a Bible in a translation that suits you and begin reading. With intent. Every day. Think about it. How does this paragraph fit into the theme of the entire “book?” What is the writer trying to say? Does what I read contradict what I’ve been taught? (Many times I’ve talked with people who discovered that what they thought was in the Bible actually isn’t!) Find a teacher–in person or read commentaries.

You see someone with an aura of calm assurance and deep joy. You wish you could have it.

You can. Practice deep prayer with intent. Every day. Maybe three times a day like Daniel in the Hebrew scriptures. There will come a time of realization that you have changed. You’re calmer in interactions. You’re not so easily worked up.

You see someone who is a dedicated servant to others. They cook for a “soup kitchen” or serve food or offer hospitality at church. Wow, I wish I could be like them.

You can. Ask how you can help at the soup kitchen or the homeless shelter or at church. Practice doing with intent to be a server.

Or, back to the original story. Find a teacher of piano or guitar. Practice daily. Maybe begin to serve by playing at small church gatherings. Invite people to your house for some music and food. Or find friends to do that.

You can do it. Intent. Practice. Repeat. Go for it!

Posted in Disciplines | 1 Comment »