Driving on the freeway in Tulsa a few years back, I saw a billboard advertising a wildly popular church in the area. The ad featured a photo taken from behind the pastor who was looking out on the congregation. The pastor had both fists in the air as if celebrating a touchdown. The caption read:…
First off, show up. Don’t ask permission, just show up. It’s always difficult to know just what to say when a friend or loved one tells you of a personal tragedy. The usual responses of “I’m so sorry,” or “what can I do?” are often not helpful. Both of these, though usually coming from a…
“Can you think of anything more frightful,” writes Kierkegaard, “than that it might end with your nature being resolved into a multiplicity, that you really might become many, become, like those unhappy demoniacs, a legion, and you thus would have lost the inmost and holiest thing of all in a man, the unifying power of…
It’s another Monday morning at Hodges Bend. The coffee is more chocolate tasting than usual, maybe it’s just because I didn’t drown it in cream this time. The usual good music has been replaced by an odd and uninspiring band. It’s one of those technically talented bands that tries too hard to prove itself with…
Fight your feelings if you want, but you will lose. You will lose because that small domain occupied by your conscious self is no match for the far larger more powerful unconscious self. The good news is that one’s unconscious mind does not desire a fight, but rather peace. The trouble is that it is…
Friday has become the best day of my week. I’m finally self-employed again, which means I can schedule a half-day of work followed by a half-day of reflection over cigars and Guinness whenever I want. I look forward to it like a 7-year-old looks forward to Disneyland, only I don’t wind up screaming and crying…
Anyone with a penchant for Greek mythology has undoubtedly encountered the bit about Hercules donning women’s clothing for a three-year period while in servitude to Omphale, daughter of the queen of Lydia. The legend recounts how Hercules—yes Hercules, slayer of giants, decapitator of the Hydra, destroyer of the hounds of hell—became “voluptuous and effeminate” sporting…
"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced" -Kierkegaard
Doctrine Matters
That they may know the only true God
