Category Archives: christianity

How do I stop regretting my past?

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Magnificence. What comes to mind when you hear that word? Webster does little to do the word justice. It defines magnificence with words like splendor.

OK. But what is truly magnificent?

If you like Westerns, you are surely familiar with The Magnificent Seven. Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Charles Bronson, James Coburn — all carrying guns! It’s hard to get more magnificent than that!

Every Father’s day, I think of my dad. So in that sense, Father’s day is no different than any other day in my life. Even though he’s been dead almost a decade, I think of him every day. When I think of my dad these days, I think he was magnificent.

It’s like that with Pennsylvania. When I was in grade-school, our family took a trip and crossed the United States with a truck camper. I saw the Rocky Mountains, the Redwood Forest, the Grand Canyon. Colorado, California beaches. When we returned home, my mother, who was about the age I am now, said, “I don’t think there is anything prettier than these hills of Pennsylvania on a summer’s day.” I thought she was out of her mind. But I caught myself saying the same thing this past week. When I look at these Penn’s Woods, I think they are magnificent.

But there is something more magnificent than any of these things. It’s found in the story of Peter’s denial.

This podcast speaks of the magnificence of God’s grace, helping us overcome our own failures.

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How do I stop being so cynical?

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So recently I heard that Phil died. You didn’t know Phil, but I did. He was a pretender.

Phil came to church and pretended to be interested in order to get his wife to be a little friendlier with him. The only time Phil prayed was when the Pastor came to visit. He’d have the whole family hold hands at the table and pray together. Occasionally Phil would round up the clan and tell the he wanted them to be in church every Sunday. That lasted about a week. I say that Phil was a pretender because he was. Even those times he’d spend Sunday morning in church, Phil spent Saturday evening getting drunk. Phil had his picture in the paper for dealing drugs. And frequently, Phil’s wife would talk about his cheating and trashing the house if she objected.

So when Phil died and I read his obituary, I wanted to throw up. It said that Phil had led a life of great faith in God, that he loved God and served Him. I have to say that when I read things like that, it feeds something within me that is not healthy. It feeds my cynicism.

I struggle with cynicism. I’m not just a pessimist. A pessimist has a tendency to always expect the worst. Not just a skeptic. A skeptic has trouble believing anything good. I struggle with cynicism.

A cynic believes all people are motivated by selfishness. The outlook of a cynic is generally scornful and negative. Even if someone comes to faith in Christ and has changed, the cynic still struggles to believe it’s real. It’s not a good thing to be a cynic.

This podcast addresses the pitfall of cynicism and gives you some ladder rungs to climb to break free.

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How do I find meaning in life?

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In his book, Kingdom Triangle, J. P. Moreland says this:

The current addiction to the cult of celebrity and professional sports, along with our preoccupation with happiness, tells us something about our true nature and the bankruptcy of our culture.

There is no debating the reality that people are hungry today. No one knows that better than those who are selling things that cannot fill your heart. Whether they are selling beauty, sex, dreams, talent, sports, or success — they are capitalizing on a reality that people today are starving. And there is no question in my mind that the very things provided to fill this hunger fail miserably.

People are like a hummingbird feeding at a feeder that is filled with artificial sweetener. They think they will get nutrients. But as they gorge themselves on emptiness, they starve themselves to death. That’s exactly what is happening to human beings, spiritually and emotionally speaking. We fill ourselves with spiritual substitutes and then we wonder why our souls cry out.

Psychologist Philip Cushman writes:

…the empty life is filled up with consumer goods, calories, experiences, politicians, romantic partners, and empathetic therapists….

[The emptyself] experiences a significant absence of community, tradition, and shared meaning… a lack of personal conviction and worth, and it embodies the absences as a chronic, undifferentiated emotional hunger.

No wonder we cry out for meaning.

This podcast helps you to discover real meaning and to live life on purpose.

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