Anchor Leg

It’s the day after Halloween. In the dark alley of a city street, a pilgrim and [pilgrimess?] sit in a corner. People walk by, holding a peppermint mocha, jingling bells, and wearing cross-stitched sweaters with snowflakes on the them. The pilgrims, unnoticed by the rest of civilization, silently weep, alone and forgotten. BUT NOT THIS YEAR. This year, my friends, shall be the year we REMEMBER THE PILGRIMS. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas. The day after Thanksgiving, I get out all my Christmas stuff and light up my house like a Griswold. But, I also love each holiday during its season. October is Halloween, December is Christmas and November is Thanksgiving. Well, at least that is how it used to be. While the pilgrims fought starvation, freezing—and well, just staying alive—today they fight a different foe: commercialism. Commercialism is squeezing Thanksgiving out of the way. Like Alfred the janitor kid in Miracle on 34th Street says, “Yeah, there's a lot of b...

“It’s a sin to live cautiously.” I heard this quote from a preacher one time. I believe what he was getting at is that if we live life in a cautious manner, where nothing is ever outside of our own power to do (that’d be hard), then we never have to rely on God. At that point, faith and trust in God is essentially worthless, because we can do everything in our own power. But we all know that it’s impossible to get through life relying on our own strength. At least it’d be impossible to live a joyous, fun-filled, life-to-the-fullest type of life without relying on God. It makes me think of the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30, Message). To quickly summarize, Jesus tells a story of a rich man who went on a trip, and entrusted three servants with money. One man received $5,000, another servant $2,000, and the last servant got $1,000. The first two servants invested and doubled the money. The last one hid the $1,000 in the ground, fearful of losing any of th...

Have you ever interacted with a baby, and seen a grin spread wide over their face as a deep, gut busting laugh echoes from their lungs— just from playing peek-a-boo? How is it that something so simple can be so amusing and bring such joy? Sometimes it just takes smiling at a baby to get them to smile and laugh back at you. In the progress of growing up, we can sometimes loose our sense of child-like wonder and joy, or only tap into our joyous self every once in awhile. I am a firm believer in never letting my inner child die. After all, the Bible calls us children of God (just saying). Perhaps that’s why I’ll always laugh at a good pun, or a poop joke. But sometimes I notice inner-child me being replaced by adulting, weight-of-the-world-upon-my-shoulders me. This is especially true when I get focused on the “reality” of life, or responsibilities start to weigh me down. That is also the reason while I’ve helped to introduce Nerf guns to my work office. What? Childr...

The subject of condemnation keeps coming up to me. It’s what my last blog centered on, and it’s a subject my pastor has been talking about. Condemnation can come from many areas—parents, friends, the world, etc. But one of the worst areas, and one of the areas I struggle with the most, is self-condemnation. I remember going to Azusa Now in the spring of 2016—a Christian conference in Los Angeles that focused on unity and revival. It was attended by about 70,000 Christians from around the world. As I sat under the gray April sky, rain drops quietly cascading onto my head, I remember one of the speakers asking if we had unforgiveness in our hearts. I asked God if there was anything I was holding onto, anyone I needed to forgive. His response shocked me. I’d never thought of forgiving this person. Never even thought anything was wrong between us. “Forgive yourself,” He said. By far, my worst critic in life has been me. And I can probably assume it’s the same for you (s...

I sat in the café, a cup of coffee and a scrumptious breakfast burrito before me. For some reason, I always find it easier to spend time with God and do a little Bible study when I’m not at home. As I ate and read, I got a prompting on the inside to tell my waitress that God loved her. Talk about uncomfortable. I just barely met this lady. But as she came back to check in on me, I mustered up the courage and told her. “Thanks, but I’m an atheist,” she replied. Talking with her a little bit more, I found out she wasn’t unfamiliar with Christianity—her dad was a deacon. But her view on Christianity was saddening. She believed it was all about doing everything right in order to eventually end up in Heaven. In that moment, as God was reaching out to let her know He loved her, the waitress was unable to accept it because of a false belief. Ironically, that same day I was reading John 3. I quickly came upon one of the most famous verses in all Christendom – John 3:16. ...

"You're definitely in your element," my friend Carl said as I treaded water beneath a thunderous waterfall. It was a hot and sweaty, three-mile trek on an overgrown path to the falls. But the views were worth every step—as were the icy waters of Hazard Creek. The trail, just north of New Meadows and McCall, had left me and my friends at the top of the waterfall. From about a hundred feet up, I could see a crystal-clear pool at the bottom. It tantalized and teased me with its refreshing waters. “If only you could get down here,” it seemed to call out. On this hot and humid day, there was no way I was leaving without somehow finding a way down to the bottom. I backtracked a little, scouted and traversed a narrow ledge. Next I descended a steep slope, slipping and sliding on the loose rock. Luckily the rock wall to my left acted as a kind of handrail. I finally found my way to the bottom and was overcome by the raw power of the falls. The mist spritz...