Waxing (John's blog)
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Been a while
2020-11-24 19:00:00 UTC
Been a while since I’ve written on my blog. My new year’s resolution from 1918 has finally worked its way into my daily calendar. Hey, it’s hard being disciplined
This 1950’s video is prescience with an exclamation point. Thanks to Lou Ochhi for sending it to me.
Like all prescience,…
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Pseudo-protests at the beach
2020-05-02 15:29:16 UTC
This is California’s beach cities we’re talking about, folks. The West Coast state is the vapid protest capital of hippies and upset students. Philadelphia, Atlanta, and New York City. Those are protest places worth their salt. Tom Hanks should be standing with his hands on his hips and yelling at…
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Top Ten for 2018
2018-01-01 05:08:08 UTC
In addition to most other things that people want to do, we should all generally agree on the following “musts” for 2018:
Breathe
Blink
Pause
Wait
Consider
Ponder
And the other four things to do are to repeat breathing two more times, ponder once more, and then:
Be kind.
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It could happen …
2017-11-30 04:38:08 UTC
Down a long hall where shifty-eyed clerics in maroon framed oil paintings stare at each other, a series of past prelates from a highly secret sub-office loosely connected with dotted lines to the Vatican through an invisible org chart which appears to be part of the Pontifical Council of Culture…
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Citizenry Matters
2017-09-07 17:17:58 UTC
PRESCRIPT: The following is a response I sent to a dear friend who knows how to relate to loved ones who don’t agree with him. He is a professional conversationalist and a battle hardened progressive. I am an amateur at both of those, but a battle weary, yet heartened,…
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Exclamation
2017-06-02 18:36:00 UTC
Why does God do what he does? The question and its answer tells us everything we need to know about God, and what we should already know about ourselves
That’s the conclusion I came to this week, anyway, following another wonderful Friday morning chat with my dear friend John Sorensen.…
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Sentient Balance
2017-02-13 23:32:00 UTC
A contest has been planned, projected, played, and completed. My side won, but you’d think that was not the case
While the far, and extreme, reaches of the country wrestles with consternation and loss of place, or unexpected gain of place, each of the extremists wonders at the antics of…
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How did Brady cheat this time?
2017-02-08 11:43:00 UTC
Once a cheater, always a cheater. So, how did Brady cheat this time to win his 5th Super Bowl ring? Obviously, he cheated. Here’s how
First, his talent. It’s not fair. People like Brady, who have exceptional abilities that extend their playing years, rattle opposing teams with their legacy, and…
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Anti-LGBTQ?
2016-12-22 15:38:00 UTC
The path of civil rights history for discrimination against the black man and woman tracks a worldwide journey of both awful display and glorious breakthroughs. The underpinnings of personhood finally demands that visual differences for any race simply reflects the origination of each person’s color. Blacks have not been alone…
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Ecumanism Angst
2016-08-25 14:48:00 UTC
The chagrin for Christians over anti-Muslim outrage due to worldwide Islamic terrorist activities has no obvious outlet. We can’t seem to stop the politically incorrect babble that muddies up the distinct difference between the Muslim faithful and Islamic terrorists. When a proposed vetting solution emerges the politically correct folks cry…
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Donald Trump is not a Social Scientist
2016-08-17 21:03:00 UTC
I have been reading The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark, and because of my inescapable and gaseous addiction to the the presidential election, my brain flames quickly from the sparks of flint applied to steel. Due to the short length of a blog the flint and steel analogy regarding…
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Bad Stuff
2016-07-28 04:34:00 UTC
So, does God want us to get along with bad people, or just coexist? It’s clear that he hasn’t decided, yet, to eliminate badness. How does good survive amidst the evil? Three things must be true for that to happen
Good must be stronger than evil.Good will eventually overwhelm evil…
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AI and God
2016-07-10 13:52:00 UTC
The element of AI (Artificial Intelligence) discussion not taking place in the science debates describes most accurately the very definition and purpose of “artificial” things. What may have started out with divine participation has morphed into enhance, and replace if necessary, the natural substances and configuration of the natural world…
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Lots of Questions
2016-06-27 03:08:00 UTC
I had lots of emails with questions on the reflection for June 23 regarding the power and authority of God. My premise was that God’s exercise of his power is exemplified first and foremost by his sharing of the creation with creation itself. That point was not specifically stated that…
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Prosper and Profit
2016-05-29 15:12:00 UTC
The profit angst reared its ugly head again this week as I read and reviewed catcalls between two very different populist pugilists – Elizabeth Warren and Donald Trump. The reporters and pundits (mostly pundits) found great difficulty in hiding their personal hand-wringing over a mix of emotional and practical realities…
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Cacophany - Fifteenth of May
2016-05-16 01:28:00 UTC
Writers don’t always follow the rules. Those that don’t clearly want to liberate their readers from the common process, and imagined dullness, present in the literary regularities of the common author. No one likes dull writing, but literary excellence within the rules proceeds like gardening must operate with seed, water…
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Cars are Robots
2016-05-10 02:36:00 UTC
Technically, a car fails to fulfill all the characteristics of a robot as defined by Mierriam-Webster, basically because it does not look like a human or an animal. A car looks like, uh, well … a car
But, that definition is simply faulty. I propose that a robot can take…
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Evidence
2016-04-11 19:04:00 UTC
A nephew of mine writes periodically, updating me on his fascinations and insights into everything from racing cars to time travel. Our latest email string brought up the subject of my surprising (to him) long-lasting conviction regarding the divinity of Jesus and his awesome promise/fulfillment of eternal life. Instead of…
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Unsettling Turns
2016-03-16 13:02:00 UTC
Read anything by C.S. Lewis and experience the fog lift from your brain. Or, so I thought most people knew. Our Catholic men’s book reading club, gathered by the amazing and inspirational Martin Nussbaum (I’ll explain in a minute), embarks at our April meeting into the pages of the Abolition…
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God makes the connections
2016-03-08 20:49:00 UTC
I’ve been asking God for connections, insight on how things work together. The typical chaos of a day looks random, but God turns random into relationship. Right? God eliminates the seeming coincidences we experience by changing them into full-bored, highly engineered syncopation. What looks originally like happenstance on the outside…
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The Success Merchants
2016-03-01 14:40:00 UTC
In 1982, Jerry Derloshon published a book on The Success Merchants, a compilation of successful pitchmen and salesmen in the financial, religious and motivational arenas. Interestingly, the potential president of the United States, the inimitable Donald Trump, was just making his way to the head of the success merchant class…
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Problem with Spiritual Things
2016-02-21 19:42:00 UTC
The problem we have with spiritual things and heavenly descriptions comes down to space and time. Space and time are our confines, our parameters – one is observable (space), the other (time) not so much. Both, however, are measurable. But that’s a science discussion that we’ll skip for now. I’d…
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Lies, exaggerations, and reporting
2016-02-12 16:32:00 UTC
No, this isn’t about CNN or Fox News. This is about family tales told from the wavy memories of my faulty brain. Many of my family members are now getting this website’s updates in the weekly email blast that we send out. Today I sent out a reflection on Grandma…
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Fraudulent Dancing Mulberry Roots
2016-02-06 17:14:00 UTC
We inherited an old pump organ from furniture left in a building that we purchased six years ago. It has sat in our garage up in Woodland Park since then, quietly aging ungracefully, stuck between an old TV cabinet and boxes of yet to be recycled pots and pans, and…
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Angels Whisk us Away
2016-01-23 12:03:00 UTC
Who do you talk with about the angels? I talk with John Sorensen.
I have a mantra about angels. “Angels are welcome here.” Wherever I am. They’re invited to hang out. Joanne and I would serve them coffee and banana bread, if they’d like some. I know they would.
John…
