Faith Venture

Freedom and Constraint

July 2, 2025

Freedom, liberty. Concepts I was studying in graduate school when the faculty closed the program. I continue to ponder the paradoxes of meanings.

Some people think freedom is means to live without constraint.

I pondered the paradox of people who live in wild-fire-prone locations. Many grasp the freedom to landscape as they wish. Yet, when the inevitable wildfire occurs, that landscaping feeds the fire destroying their home and belongings and memories.

Freedom and consequence.

Paul, the apostle, wrote in his letter to the Jesus-followers in the Galatia region about freedom. It’s a short read. This time of year, freedom is on the minds of people in the US. Bev and I attended the Royal Nova Scotia Tattoo last week while vacationing out there. It was a celebration of freedom. A universal yearning.

Back to Paul. He explained that trying to follow all the laws promulgated both in the Torah and by generations of rabbis led to the opposite of freedom. Being so focused on not breaking any law bound you to the law.

In the paradox of freedom, he urged his readers to live in the Spirit since Jesus had died and been resurrected to fulfill the law. Now living in the Spirit paradoxically meant that you followed the important laws simply as a part of life.

They (we) are free, yet we know where the constraints are, and that doesn’t bother us. We know that living outside the Spirit is deadening. But living in the Spirit brings true life. The fruit of living that way,

Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

And, wow, don’t we need more kindness and self-control in this age?

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Self-Help Industry in a Sentence

July 1, 2025

From Shane Parrish of Brain Food. The entire self-help industry in one sentence: Do what makes mornings exciting and nights peaceful. Will this make me excited to wake up? Will this let me sleep in peace? Everything that fails both tests is noise.

Health begins with good sleep.

Meaning comes from getting up excited to serve others according to your talents.

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Thinking Past and Future

June 30, 2025

Some of us cannot move our thoughts beyond what happened, could have happened, or should have happened in the past.

Some of us dream only of the future, relationships to come, jobs and wealth we could acquire, places to visit.

Seth Godin has pointed out, “The best reason to think about the past is because it gives us the opportunity to improve the future.”

Most important—we live only in the present. This decision of what to do right now, in this moment, that is where life exists.

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Fitness Isn’t Punishment

June 27, 2025

Arnold Schwarzenegger observing fitness behavior. The people who find joy in the gym are the most likely to keep showing up to the gym. Fitness is supposed to make us feel better, but many people decide to stress about it.

I see the same thing on the nutrition/weight loss side of the equation. People look at “dieting” in order to lose weight as punishment.

That won’t work. Maybe short term. But not for life.

Best is to find the joy of eating wholesome, tasty food in smaller portions. Thousands of recipes exist. One needn’t feel deprived. Heck, have an occasional ice cream.

These practices form the foundation for further spiritual practices. When we feel better, we are more awake to study or finding God’s voice in our prayers and service.

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What You Become

June 26, 2025

Ancient wisdom—You become what you think about.

Shane Parrish writing in Brain Food, updated the thought. You become what you scroll.

Don’t be like the loser in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade about whom the Last Crusader remarked, “He chose poorly.”

Posted in Wisdom | 3 Comments »

Freedom of Speech—With Responsibility

June 25, 2025

I was on a Board of Education in the 1980s. Another member and I pushed for restriction of smoking on school grounds. Another member was a purveyor of tobacco products at the wholesale level.

That member brought a stack of documentation at least a foot high purporting to show the positive health benefits of smoking.

They thought they had the right of free speech to promote ideas contrary to nearly unanimous research about the hazards of smoking—both to the smoker and to others around them.

My wife and I were considering European vacations. People in many cities of western Europe are rebelling against tourists. It seems that people are buying many apartments at a premium price in order to rent them to tourists through AirBnB or equivalent companies. The unintended consequences include housing shortages for natives and increasing prices for property rendering them too expensive for locals.

AirBnB issued a press release saying the real cause was hotels, because that’s where 80% of tourists stay. (Hmmm?) Do hotels contribute to the situation by buying properties? Probably some. But let us not be duplicitous.

Some oil companies just sued under the First Amendment right to freedom of speech to be able to contradict overwhelming evidence garnered from scientific research conducted globally that show direct links to burning fossil fuels, air pollution, and climate change.

The men who wrote the original documents of the US government including the First Amendment discussed the necessary corollary to free speech—responsibility.

An entire industry exists to massage words such that a client can appear to be innocent even when not.

Many companies and people, on the other hand, have discovered the fruit of the moral value of owning mistakes and improving.

Let’s hope that you and I can avoid the temptation of lying in favor of honesty—even if it hurts. And calling out those who fail. Be aware of what you read.

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Be Kind To Yourself—How Hard It Is

June 24, 2025

Treating others with kindness can seem like a chore…or it can just be a reflection of who we are.

Spiritual practitioners and teachers have taught people to begin by treating themselves with kindness, practicing gratitude, recognizing our shortcomings with objectivity and desire for change.

Some people whom we might describe informally with narcissistic tendencies seem to be so assured. Yet, inside they cannot treat themselves with kindness while hoping for others to treat them that way.

Others of us have been brought up not to expect kindness from others. Those people are shocked or suspicious when someone is kind to them, since they cannot be kind to themselves.

Blessed are those who treat their shortcomings with kindness. They find spiritual growth. And the ability to serve others in ways great and small simply as an extension of that kindness.

We can all learn to step back, becoming aware of our situation, practicing loving kindness meditation. We become a spiritually integrated child of God.

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Peace and Justice

June 23, 2025

I had developed two core principles before I had made it to high school. I am not sure why given where I was born. Stories of violence and hatred toward black people in the US South deeply affected me. Therefore, the justice part. Since this was prior to Viet Nam, the peace part must have come through teachings of John Wesley in my Methodist church. Or stories of my Seventh-Day Baptist preacher uncles.

Our country has declared yet another unofficial (not authorized by Congress) war. I’m glad I was never in the position to make decisions to kill thousands of people in the name of peace. It’s like my pacifist leanings toward any violence. The mother of a girl I used to talk with decades ago used probe at what point would I resort to violence in order to protect myself or another. I wrestle with that question some 60 years later.

I pray for peace. I cannot stop the bombing. I cannot stop the hatred and egos and power yearnings of others. I can act with kindness spreading peace and justice where I am.

I will do what I can letting the egos and hatred of others play out into their own destructions. I feel great sorrow when I sit and consider the many places where bombs are falling on innocent people and soldiers are sent to the front to their deaths.

This is my personal meditation. You consider your own fears and concerns making your own decisions. I don’t tell people what to think or do. I merely try to reflect the teachings of Jesus that have so deeply infused my being.

I have a small international readership. If you are somewhere protecting your homeland from destruction, my prayers are with you.

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Worry, Worry, Worry

June 20, 2025

Worry…Worry, worry, worry, worry

Worry just will not seem to leave my mind alone—Ray LaMontagne, Trouble

My mother was a worrier. She passed this trait along to her four sons. My barber from long ago was researching his genealogy. It was German. He told me that Germans were worriers. My mom’s father spoke German, but he was Alsatian speaking a dialect of German. There was no correlation. I doubt that you can classify a tribe or culture as worriers.

But worry can invade many people in a culture. Especially so in this day of social media algorithms. Conspiracy theories abound. Wonder why? Just look at what “news” item suddenly appear in your Facebook/Instagram/Xitter/TikTok feeds. TV News? I tell people it has little to do with liberal/conservative or red/blue. The real differentiation is hype/more hype/most hype.

I talked with an engineer on the host company’s AI team. He’s worried about AI.

We could always quote another song, Don’t Worry, Be Happy—Bobby McFerrin

An extension of lifelong meditation practice entails intentionally diverting my mind the moment my awareness recognizes worry. It works.

We could infuse this thought into our thinking along with Mark Twain (quoted by President James A. Garfield), “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, most of which never happened.”

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What is Faith? How Do I Get It?

June 19, 2025

I believe. Help me in my unbelief! Desperate man’s response to Jesus.

One of my favorite interactions in the story of Jesus. It is so honest and open.

She asked me such a simple question. What is faith? Followed by, how do I get it?

I’ve thought about this. I did some additional research. I could probably write a book.

The deeper I thought, the more I discovered that this question leads into the reading I’ve done over the past year into how people get sucked into the vortex of conspiracy theories.The latest book now on my desk is titled Wrong. More on that after I’ve finished it.

There seems to be an element of awareness. Maybe not complete knowledge, but an awareness of things just not right within my soul.

Then comes trust. Usually from a community—whether physical or online. I trust these people to guide me toward faith in something.

Community plus trust leads to action. I begin to act out my faith.

Much of this thinking has come while sitting at a coffee shop alongside the casino of the Fontainbleau Resort (hotel) in Las Vegas while attending a technology conference. The casinos are so quiet these days—not like even a few years ago when the noise was deafening. I doubt that my thinking was influenced by the spirit of greed surrounding me 😉

Try thinking on these things:

Awareness—we need to cultivate awareness of our thoughts and feelings, as well as, potential manipulation by others.
Contemplation—pause, breathe, relax, focus on God or the Spirit. Faith or not, we will be infused.
Research and test—what sort of people are in that faith community? Would you really like to be like them?
Think—Let your rational mind weigh the evidence. I find a slow walk in nature helpful.
Intention—consider whether searching for this faith is intentional or whether it is a reaction to someone’s comment.
Choose community wisely—above all, choose community wisely. Practice discernment.

More could be written, but I don’t want to write a book. I wish for us to think.

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