A "free range" pastor, counselor, author

Category Blog

The Cracked Pot

The Cracked Pot A legend tells of a man who used to carry water every day to his village, using two large pots tied on either end of a piece of wood, which he placed across his shoulders. One of the… Continue Reading →

First Lesson

First Lesson (by Phillip Booth) Lie back daughter, let your head be tipped back in the cup of my hand. Gently, and I will hold you. Spread your arms wide, lie out on the stream and look high at the… Continue Reading →

The Other Serenity Prayer

The Other Serenity Prayer God, grant me the serenity To stop beating myself up for not doing things perfectly, The courage to forgive myself because I’m working on doing better, And the wisdom to know that You already love me… Continue Reading →

God Hates No One – Including You

Simple Sunday Sermons: God Hates No One - Including You (1 John 4:8) Facebook Live Video

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What We See

We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” Anaïs Nin (Also attributed to Talmud, Immanuel Kant, G. T. W. Patrick, H. M. Tomlinson and Steven Covey.) So if I am… angry fearful confused scared unloving… Continue Reading →

Can It Get Any Worse?

A poor man lived with his wife and six children in a very small one-room house. They were always getting in each other’s way and there was so little space they could hardly breathe! Finally the man could stand it… Continue Reading →

Blessing the Dust – A Blessing for Ash Wednesday

Blessing the Dust – A Blessing for Ash Wednesday (by Jan Richardson) All those days you felt like dust, like dirt, as if all you had to do was turn your face toward the wind and be scattered to the… Continue Reading →

The Serenity Prayer – God Grant Me…

The Serenity Prayer – God Grant Me… God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one… Continue Reading →

Love is the Cure – Seeing with the X-ray Eyes of Love

Simple Sunday Sermons: Love is the Cure - Seeing with the X-ray Eyes of Love (1 Cor. 13) Facebook Live Video

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Love Cures

“Love cures people – both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.” Karl Menninger

100 Years of Beauty

100 Years of Beauty: Aging Video. Every young couple, before getting married should watch this video.  It’s wonderful.  When we’re young we concentrate on the outward beauty, the skin, the form of the one we love.  But isn’t there something… Continue Reading →

100 Years

100 Years (by Five for Fighting). How quickly time flies, but we often don’t even notice it.  How we take for granted that we’ll have many more wonderful years to come.  How we so easily lose perspective and take all… Continue Reading →

Love Does That

Love Does That (by Meister Eckhart) All day long a little burro labors, sometimes with heavy loads on her back and sometimes just with worries about things that bother only burros. And worries, as we know, can be more exhausting… Continue Reading →

Love is the Cure – Practicing Kind Love

Simple Sunday Sermons - Love is the Cure: Practicing Kind Love. (1 Cor. 13:4) Facebook Live Video

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Startling Love

“To love is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.”  – EMILY DICKINSON

Chocolate Meditation – Practice in Savoring Your Life

Chocolate Meditation Perhaps you have some chocolate laying around today, the day after Valentines day.  Enjoy it!  Perhaps you’ll want to add to the enjoyment and appreciation of it with this mindfulness meditation that teaches us the importance of savoring the… Continue Reading →

The Last Letter of Major Sullivan Ballou – “Dear Sarah”

The following is a letter written by Maj. Sullivan Ballou to his wife Sarah at home in Rhode Island. Ballou died a week later, at the First Battle of Bull Run. He was 32.  A beautiful letter th...

Twisted Mouth

Twisted Mouth (Written by Surgeon Richard Selzer MD) I stand by the bed where a young woman lies, her face postoperative, her mouth twisted in palsy, clownish. A tiny twig of the facial nerve, the one to the muscles of… Continue Reading →

Love is the Cure – Practicing Patient Love

Simple Sunday Sermons - Love is the Cure: Practicing Patient Love. (1 Cor. 13:4) Facebook Live Video

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Beams of Love

“And we are put on this earth a little space that we may learn to bear the beams of love.” – WILLIAM BLAKE

Love

Love (by Roy Croft) I love you, Not only for what you are, But for what I am When I am with you. I love you, Not only for what You have made of yourself, But for what You are… Continue Reading →

Not a One!

Not a One! Chad was a shy, quiet little boy. One day he came home and told his mother that he’d like to make a valentine for everyone in his class. Her heart sank. She thought, “I wish he wouldn’t… Continue Reading →

With That Moon Language

With That Moon Language (by Hafiz) Admit something: Everyone you see, you say to them, “Love me.” Of course you do not do this out loud; Otherwise, Someone would call the cops. Still though, think about this, This great pull… Continue Reading →

The Most Excellent Way

Simple Sunday Sermons - The Most Excellent Way. (1 Cor. 13) Facebook Live Video

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“Danny & Annie” A True Love Story

Danny Perasa and his wife, Annie, came to StoryCorps to recount their twenty-seven-year romance. As they remember their life together from their first date to Danny's final days with terminal can...

To Recognize Your Face

To Recognize Your Face “Grant me to recognize in others, Lord God, the radiance of your own face.” Teilhard de Chardin

The Sweetness of Dogs

The Sweetness of Dogs (by Mary Oliver) What do you say, Percy? I am thinking of sitting out on the sand to watch the moon rise. It’s full tonight. So we go and the moon rises, so beautiful it makes… Continue Reading →

How to Change the World?

Simple Sunday Sermons - How to Change the World? Mark 12:30-31) Facebook Live Video

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God of My Future – A Puritan Prayer

God of My Future O, God of My Future: Today, I dive into waters, unknown. The sudden embrace of its cold startles me, awakens hiding fear. I do not know about the next, or how it may be cruel. I… Continue Reading →

Saint Francis and the Sow

Saint Francis and the Sow (by Galway Kinnell) The bud stands for all things, even for those things that don’t flower, for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing; though sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness, to… Continue Reading →

I Am Light

A Reflection on: "I Am Light." A beautiful song to help you remember who you truly are. You and I suffer from spiritual amnesia! We have forgotten who we are, why we are here and how to li...

We Were Made For These Times

Simple Sunday Sermons - We Were Made For These Times (Matt. 5:14) Facebook Live Video

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Invincible Spirit

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” – ALBERT CAMUS Dear God, may this be true for all who struggle, anytime of the year, with low grade depression or situational despair. Could it… Continue Reading →

A Poem in a Bar – My Worst Day Ever?

A Poem in a Bar – My Worst Day Ever? Today was the absolute worst day ever And don’t try to convince me that There’s something good in every day Because, when you take a closer look, This world is… Continue Reading →

Late Fragment

Late Fragment (by Raymond Carver) And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so? I did. And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth. The desire of our hearts?… Continue Reading →

No Condemnation! (Part 3) Hearing the Voice of Love

Simple Sunday Sermons - No Condemnation! (Part 3) - Hearing the Voice of Love (Mark 1:11) Facebook Live Video

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God, I Want to Love You

God, I Want to Love You “Oh, my God, I want to love you not that I might gain eternal heaven nor escape eternal hell, But, Lord, to love you just because you are my God.” Ignatius of Loyola  

Shoveling Snow With Buddha

Shoveling Snow With Buddha (by Billy Collins) In the usual iconography of the temple or the local Wok you would never see him doing such a thing, tossing the dry snow over a mountain of his bare, round shoulder, his… Continue Reading →

The Parable of the Twins

The Parable of the Twins – For a unique perspective on death as “life after life.” Once upon a time, a set of twins were conceived in the same womb. Weeks passed, and the twins developed. As their awareness grew,… Continue Reading →

I Have No Idea Where I am Going

I Have No Idea Where I am Going My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end nor do I… Continue Reading →

No Condemnation! (Part 2)

Simple Sunday Sermons - No Condemnation! Part 2 (Rom. 7:15-8:1) Facebook Live Video

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Carpe Diem

A wonderful scene in the movie Dead Poet's Society.  "If you lean in you can hear their legacy - Carpe... carpe diem - Seize the day boys...Make your lives extraordinary."

"Gather ...

We Were Made For These Times

We Were Made for These Times (by Clarissa Pinkola Estes) My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They are concerned about the… Continue Reading →

Beautiful Truth

"God, help me to believe the truth about myself, no matter how beautiful it is." Macrina Wiederkehr

A wonderful simple prayer to pray to remember the truth of "No condemnation."  Listen here.

No Condemnation! (Part 1)

Simple Sunday Sermons - No Condemnation! Part 1 (John 3:17, John 8:1-11, Rom. 8:1) Facebook Live Video

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What Did I Miss?

What Did I Miss? A soul came into a new body, and immediately, forgetting what she was here for, fell asleep at the beginning of her life. The personality she became went about the business of being human, completely unaware… Continue Reading →

God’s Presence

“Bidden or unbidden, God is present.” – CARL JUNG Some say Desiderius Erasmus said this or perhaps Carl Jung popularized it. But whoever coined it first – I love the eternal truth of it. and it’s even fun to say… Continue Reading →

You Don’t Have to Act Crazy Anymore

You Don’t Have to Act Crazy Anymore (by Hafiz) You don’t have to act crazy anymore, We all know you were good at that. Now retire, my dear, From all that hard work you do Of bringing pain to your… Continue Reading →

Remove the Barriers for Love

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” – RUMI

The Work of Christmas Begins (Howard Thurman)

The Work of Christmas Begins (Howard Thurman) When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and the princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flocks, The… Continue Reading →

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