Competing,Comparing,Condemning

by | Aug 30, 2007 | Lessons Learned, Love

Athletic competition can bring great delight to my heart. A football game won in the last seconds or a round of golf decided on the last hole breathes energy into me. A natural progression of thought during competition is comparison. I might compare two basketball...

Trained to hear

by | Aug 23, 2007 | Competence, Lessons Learned

Do you remember the story of the Cherokee Indian walking down 5th Avenue in Manhattan with a New York businessman? Suddenly the Indian stopped and said, "Did you hear that?" The business man asked, "Hear what?" "That cricket" replied the...

Diagnosing at the Mall

by | Aug 16, 2007 | Lessons Learned, Love, Unity

While his wife shopped at the mall, an endocrinologist sat in a coffee shop gazing at the passersby. He "diagnosed" shoppers with an intelligent guess. No history. No physical exam. No laboratory tests. Just a moment's gaze at a limp or a distinguishing...

The Power of Presence

by | Aug 9, 2007 | Lessons Learned, Unity

Alone in the woods! Darkness enveloped me, in spite of the camp fire. Escalating fear gripped my heart as unfamiliar noises rose from unseen places. As a young boy participating in an initiation rite at a YMCA camp, I was petrified. My assignment – to stay awake...

Brokenness

by | Aug 2, 2007 | Confession, Lessons Learned

I walked into the fitness center, reached for the remote control to the television and found it broken. Frustration gripped me. I want whatever is broken repaired immediately — broken arms, broken electronics, and even broken emotions. How unrealistic! Certainly...