Don’t Live A Half-Rep Life

November 12, 2025

Just as I’m exploring meditation more deeply through an app (The Way with Henry Shukman), I am exploring resistance training more deeply through another app (The Pump Club with Arnold Schwarzenegger and others).

It started with the most basic rule of all: every exercise, when done with a full range of motion, is a stretch and a flex. Don’t live a half-rep life. Be fully present. Go all the way in everything you do.   -Arnold

  • Be fully present when you bench press those weights.
  • Be fully present when you do your work.
  • Be fully present when you study, pray, or meditate.
  • Be fully present with those whom you serve.
  • Be fully present with those with whom you converse.

This is the first day of the rest of your life. Live it in the present.

[Aside: I’ve learned that my long-time meditation practice has not been out of the main stream, yet I learn to go more deeply. I’ve increased the size of my shoulders, biceps, thighs, calves, while losing much white adipose tissue in the trunk. Resistance training and nutrition and sleep. The not-so-magic formula. I am now sharper mentally as I study and think things through.]

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Posted in Attention, Awareness, focus | Leave a Comment »

Description or Relationship?

November 11, 2025

Last week I asked how we picture God when we hear the name.

The lector read from Haggai last Sunday. I was struck by the reverence the Hebrews had for the name they used when referring to God. Of course, they never wrote or spoke God’s actual name. They held that word sacred. One would abbreviate it when writing and never pronounce it. 

Not like us today. We throw the name, God, around like bouncing a  pickleball back and forth. Even I’m guilty of loosely using the word as an expletive, as in OMG.

Christians like to use the word “Father”, since that was the term used in Christian scripture.

As a descriptive term, that can leave many of us lacking. Maybe we didn’t know a father in our life. Hard to raise much of a picture in our minds lacking experience. Maybe we had a rocky relationship with a father. Perhaps he was distant, gone, or even abusive. That hardly conjures a welcoming picture.

I notice that often when Jesus refers to “Father,” he talks about his relationship to God. The New Testament writers often refer to “God” as “Spirit” (descriptive, not The Holy Spirit). As in, God is spirit; worship him in spirit and truth.

Passages that take our relationship with God extending it to our relationship to others of God’s children have inspired my thinking. Thinking of my core values of peace and justice, I relate those as relational—we try to extend God’s grace and love and justice to others. Sounds like the sort of life that someone trying to be a Follower of Jesus would strive for.

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Posted in Relationship, spirit | Leave a Comment »

Breaking News

November 10, 2025

Breaking news is overrated. Receiving a summary the next day is more than sufficient. OK, sometimes immediate news is important—tornado in the area, rising flood waters. 

Breaking news became important, not to us, but to people who make money because of us, thanks to the invention of the 24-hour news channels. Repeating news all day and all night would be boring. But breaking news, ah, that draws our attention frequently. That’s the goal. The news source doesn’t matter. It’s all the same—stir emotions, entice our eyes and attention, show us more advertisements, capture attention again.

Shun that for your mental and spiritual health.

I thought about breaking news in the Christian Bible.

Perhaps the word-of-mouth spreading news of Jesus’s healings. That certainly drew crowds and the interest of secular/religious authorities.

The big one—Mary rushing to report to the other disciples about the empty tomb and meeting Jesus after his very public death. Being a woman, some of the men didn’t believe her rushing to verify for themselves. That one had to be tough to understand.

The two men leaving Jerusalem walking to the village of Emmaus asking the stranger who joined them if he had heard the news.

Develop and apply a filter for news. Develop awareness of what’s important and publishers design in order to keep us tuned in. Perhaps the best “breaking news” is what we call the “Good News” or “Gospel”.

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Posted in Attention, Awareness | Leave a Comment »

Don’t Play The Fool

November 7, 2025

You probably are about my age if you remember when Ricky Nelson sang, “Poor little fool, oh yeah, I was a fool, uh huh.”

Success (and happiness) in life does not require being a genius. It begins with not being a fool.

We can turn to one of my favorite documents in the Hebrew scriptures—we call it the Book of Proverbs. The writers describe the difference between the wise person and the foolish person.

Let’s consider a sample of descriptions of a fool.

  • A fool repeats folly. “ (Proverbs 26:11)
  • A fool lacks common sense. (Proverbs 10:21)
  • A fool avoids the wise. (Proverbs 15:12) 
  • A fool pursues elusive dreams. (Proverbs 17:24) 
  • A fool is proud and arrogant. (Proverbs 21:24)
  • A fool despises wisdom. (Proverbs 23:9) 
  • A fool starts fights. (Proverbs 18:6)
  • A fool is easily upset. (Proverbs 12:16)
  • A fool believes everything he reads. (Proverbs 14:15)
  • A fool loves to talk, but hates to listen. (Proverbs 18:2)
  • A fool is fiercely independent. (Proverbs 28:26)
  • A fool makes light of sin. (Proverbs 10:23)
  • A fool hates their mama. (Proverbs 15:20)

I’m guessing that you, like me, find yourself at least partially described at sometime in life by one or more of these descriptions. Shall we take a lesson from these? We exercise our self-awareness. When we see ourselves exhibiting one of these characteristics, we breathe deeply and divert ourselves into a more wise path.

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Christian Community

November 6, 2025

We moved during the pandemic shutdown (remember those days?).

We thought we’d try out a smaller campus of a megachurch. We settled into church at home. We tried a couple small groups. Those flared and burned out. A gathering of “seniors” followed. No follow up. Nothing happened.

Where was community? Reading Acts reveals the story of the vibrancy of small communities of followers of The Way.

More than 20 years ago, the man who started Red Herring magazine chronicling the burgeoning tech scene, started a  new media company on the Web called Always On. The theory was we are going to be always on—the Internet. He was too early. It folded. A few years later, Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone. Everything changed. We are Always On.

Online worship allows people to stay in touch who would otherwise be completely isolated.

Thinking out loud, yet again.

Can being online replace being in community? Did Facebook replace seeing friends? How about the devolution through Instagram to TicTok? 

Is being online just being in our own head? Still isolated from people?

Sounds like a dynamic tension to me. 

How about your experience?

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Posted in Relationship, Worship | Leave a Comment »

How Do You See God?

November 5, 2025

When someone talks of God to you, what image comes into your mind?

Remembering, of course, that the famous Ten Commandments tell us not to visualize a picture of God.

Yet, we instinctively construct something in our mind.

Perhaps you imagine an old white guy with a long beard? Sitting on a Medieval Throne?

You’re not Caucasian? Do you imagine an old person who looks like those around you? Perhaps a female figure?

The Gospels tell us God is spirit, but how do you visualize spirit?

Since God is the ultimate Creator, I imagine God as “the supreme creative force” of the universe and beyond. I don’t picture a person but sort of a whoosh.

(And, OK, I’m weird.)

Reading the poet John O’Donohue, I see this description:

Imagine God not as a remote spirit but as wild, passionate, liberating, powerful.

It may be my Celtic ancestry. Or, I’m weird. But I find that “image” liberating.

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To Be Free

November 4, 2025

The Stoics were an intriguing group. They were primarily Roman or Greek, so the concept of the “One God” was completely foreign to them. But they were part of a Wisdom tradition that stretches back about as far as we can trace human civilization.

Ryan Holiday has created a career writing about the Stoics. He wrote in a recent newsletter, “At the time, in Rome, many people believed that only freedmen could be educated. In fact, Epictetus said, it was the opposite: only the educated were free. Wisdom is freedom. Someone who doesn’t know what’s what is a slave to impulses, ignorance, and illusions…even if they possess incredible worldly power and wealth.”

I began researching freedom or liberty while in graduate school. Never really published anything. Follow are some thoughts spurred by the Epictetus quote.

Wisdom tradition runs deeply in the New Testament—most explicitly in the Letter from James. Gospel writer Matthew presents Jesus as a Wisdom teacher (plus). 

Researching what Jesus said about to be free, it turns out that Jesus would have not argued with Epictetus—but he took the thoughts to a deeper level.

Consider a few thoughts from my research:

Freedom from sin: One of Jesus’s most direct statements about freedom is in John 8:31-36, where he says, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” When people objected that they were already free as descendants of Abraham, Jesus clarified: “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin… So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Here, Jesus presents freedom as liberation from the bondage of sin through knowing the truth and following him.

Consider what habits, foods, prolonged thoughts, relationships you (we) have that separate us from God.

Freedom from religious burdens: Jesus criticized the religious leaders of his time for placing heavy burdens on people. In Matthew 11:28-30, he offered an alternative: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

How many requirements does your church or do your church leaders pile on you? Is service compulsory or performed for the joy of helping others?

Freedom through service: Jesus also taught a paradoxical form of freedom—that true freedom comes through serving others and God rather than serving oneself. He said in Matthew 20:26-28 that whoever wants to be great must become a servant.

Consider my last question. Are you serving because of the Holy Spirit residing within—even when you don’t always feel like it?

Spiritual liberation: In Luke 4:18-19, quoting Isaiah, Jesus described his mission as bringing “freedom for the prisoners” and proclaiming “the year of the Lord’s favor”—language associated with the Year of Jubilee when debts were forgiven and captives freed.

How are we serving the oppressed?

For Jesus, freedom wasn’t primarily political or external, but spiritual and internal—freedom from sin, guilt, fear, and spiritual bondage to live in relationship with God.

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Posted in Freedom, Justice, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Notes on Being a Man

November 3, 2025

Observing the growing diversity of genders and races at engineering conferences over the past 20 years has been gratifying. I’ve been a “perp” at times over the years. When I had leadership responsibilities, I promoted unlikely people into strategic roles looking at their skill sets and social maturity. I had a female project manager and a sales engineer in the 1980s when many men were uncomfortable with that. They were good.

Melinda French Gates (Bill’s ex) recently appeared on a podcast. While celebrating the advances women have made, she noted the importance of bringing men along. I applaud the setting aside of an “us vs. them” mentality. I’m with Martin Luther King, Jr. when  he asked that we judge people by the strength of their character, not by external factors.

I have watched for years how some boys and men have not been brought along with the progress of women, people of color, and privileged white men. I would see the woman of the family driving the car, going into the bank to do business, running other errands, while the guy sits slumped in the car playing a video game.

Sometimes parents have not been a help. Sometimes no coach or teacher or neighbor has come forward to offer guidance. They’ve heard that if you don’t go to college, you’re nothing. And their talents are not in that direction.

My last podcast discussed building a workplace that respects people. We need to help bring everyone along for the ride. We cannot sit back and expect other to do this.

[Note: the linked blog post contains language and situations that some will find offensive. The message is clear, though.]

Tim Ferriss writing about Scott Galloway on his blog discusses disturbing statistics about young (and a little older now) men. They need guidance. OK, maybe sometimes a metaphorical kick in the pants. Check out Tim’s post and the discussion about Galloway’s new book.

What can we do either individually or through business to help bring these disaffected people along—all the while not forgetting to enable everyone?

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Posted in Attitude, Compassion, Leadership, teaching | Leave a Comment »

See More Clearly

October 31, 2025

John Fischer wrote recently in his The Catch newsletter, “Your job is not to shout louder. But to see clearer… Eyes wide open. Heart tuned in.”

People trying to communicate with someone who speaks a different language invariably speak more loudly as if volume would overcome the language barrier.

People living within different political or religious systems also have this trait. If you don’t seem to understand me, I’ll just scream louder.

Hot tip: that does’t work.

Fischer talks of seeing clearer. That is part of the equation. Better is seeing the other more clearly. And listening. And deciding not to assume the other is simply stupid or ignorant or cynical.

Reminds me of this wonderful song from Godspell, Day by Day.

Oh Dear Lord

Three things I pray

To see thee more clearly

Love thee more dearly

Follow thee more nearly

Day by day

Posted in Attitude, Awareness, discernment | Leave a Comment »

What If Church Were Different?

October 30, 2025

Ed Sheeran wrote a song, Thinking Out Loud.

Just so, I’m thinking out loud.

What if church resembled an AA meeting?

  • Honesty in recognizing shortcomings, no need to hide behind a cover of perfect
  • Supportive community
  • Guidance from a sponsor
  • No shame, guilt (there’s already too much)
  • Communion around a real table, not a metaphorical one

A priest with the curse of alcoholism said that he received more support and help from the AA meeting in the basement of the church than from the worshippers upstairs.

Just Thinking Our Loud.

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Posted in Compassion, forgiveness, Thinking | Leave a Comment »

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